Unit Newsletter!

[justchill, BSN, RN]

Hi everyone! Hope you all enjoyed your summer.

On my unit, as part of shared governance, I'm one of the editors for our monthly newsletter. We're a med-surg floor. Right now the newsletter has been very basic with just some updates on the unit such as No Pass Zone and flu vaccines etc, etc.

I just wanted to brain storm some ideas to make it more interesting. What have newsletters on your unit looked like or included? I want there to be something educational included, even if it's something just pointing them to a free CE somewhere. Or staff spotlights, etc.

Any experiences would be appreciated.

[chiandre]

Very interesting!

How about

A manager's corner

Birthdays, celebrations and job anniversaries section

Reflections corner

Ask the educator section

Toon section

Free CEU section

Have fun!!!

[kungpoopanda]

How often does the newsletter come out? Perhaps you could briefly feature some of the awareness days occurring that week or month, such as mental health month or heart week or whatever, with a focus on what your ward/facility is doing to promote them.

[Morainey, BSN, RN]

We have a little "did you know?" segment at the end of ours, which I think is nice sometimes, but otherwise you can tell what the most recent screw-ups are ("DID YOU KNOW that we can only keep TWELVE oxygen cylinders in the closet?").

What I think is nice is a little "get to know your coworkers" column - you could do a series of 5 random questions, or do little bios on people. I always like to see pictures of people's pets and babies. I agree with an above poster, it's nice to mention people's anniversaries, birthdays, etc.

You could also include thank you notes from patients.

That's my little brainstorm! I hope it's helpful.

[firstinfamily, RN]

Another idea might be to have a "reminder" column. Like when the next schedule requests are due, what inservice is coming up, when annual competencies are scheduled etc. I always liked to see co-workers birthdays and anniversaries, it really helped to cheer each other. One facility where I worked had a "Nurses Cap Night" it was fun wearing our old caps and seeing how many different ones there were, maybe this could be a picture type of thing. Also, how about an "Intro to new hire" for your unit which would highlight the new employees and what shifts they were on, what their interests are etc. Sounds like a great project to bring a unit together!!!