To all the Wonderful CNA's and PCT's

[dragonflyaltoids]

To all the CNA's and PCT's that I work with on a daily basis that I forget to tell thank you for all your hard work, THANK YOU! I appreciate all the extra's that you do, the time that you spend with my patients, the reminders that you give me to turn the patient in room 212, the nudges you give me to get room 232 out of bed, the wink you give when you have room 240 in the hallway with her walker and her oxygen tank, and her wheelchair, I can't tell you how invaluable that I find you "auntie" when my patient gets the wrong tray and you take the initiative and call to get her the correct one and I don't even know about it until its delivered! What would I do without,not only you but ALL the great CNA's I work with? I don't want you to think that I go one minute, or a single day taking you or your hard work for granted- because I don't! Your work is hard, its unforgiving, its thoughtless, and thankless, but I want you to know, because you and the other CNA's at our hospital come to work everyday and you make my job possible, because of you guys YOU make it possible for US as a TEAM to get OUR patients home where they belong with their families. And I thank you for that, and I cannot thank you enough, so I owe you one, a candy bar, a soda, lunch, a drink, whatever you want its on me. I love my :redbeathe CNA's and I appreciate you guys! And I Promise I will ALWAYS get off my butt to help you clean an incontinent patient,bathe,shower,or to reposition an obese patient, and to get someone out of bed, because they're our patients not mine, not yours, OURS and we're a TEAM. :redpinkhe

And I issue a challenge to all the other nurses out there to thank their cna's and tech's, and pitch in to help them and remember it makes the job get done faster when two people do it! And the patient feels special!

[WhiteScrubs]

As a former CNA and recent grad RN, I *love* seeing teams that work well together and appreciate each other. It makes all of our jobs so much easier, and works out so much better for patients, too.:redpinkhe

Thanks also for challenging us all to appreciate the awesome CNA/PCT staff we work with!

I can't thank enough that one amazing CNA that I used to work with -- always looking out for our patients and going above and beyond. Patients on our floor had fewer falls and safety issues because she was so vigilant in checking on patients and anticipating needs. When patients made crazy requests, she always did her best to accomodate when possible. Never backed away from a difficult or dirty job. I would change jobs or facilities if it meant working with her or someone like her again. I've worked with many competent, compassionate CNA's but this one in particular was such a joy to work with.

Here's a questions -- what's the best/most thoughtful/most creative way to say thanks to the amazing CNA's in our lives?

Ideas:

-buy/provide meals/snacks, etc. Not too creative, but generally appreciated.

-matching scrubs tops for all the staff on the floor (cute ones where the facility allows :)) -- one nurse I know did this as a thanks during CNA appreciation week -- it went over really well.

-when I was a CNA, a retiring nurse wrote me a letter of recommendation/reference -- completely unsolicited. It was thoughtful and specific to me and my skills. I still pull it out and read it whenever I have a rough day, or question whether I'm cut out for what I do.

I'd love to hear other people's ideas!