Are You Ready for Your Nurses Week Celebration?
That was the subject line of an email I received recently from the American Nurses Association (ANA.) It reminded me that May 6th is just around the corner but it also created a flood of memories about celebrations over many years past.
Pictured: NIHD Member Dena Carey, RN, BSN, BS, BLS, NRP, Associate Vice President at VHC Health.
For those who don’t recall or may not know, National Recognition Day for Nurses was proclaimed by the United States President in 1982 and in the late ‘90’s The ANA designated May 6 -12th as National Nurses Week. Purposefully, the week includes Florence Nightingale’s birthday, May 12, 1820.
Nurse Week was of course a big deal during my years as a hospital Chief Nursing Officer. I tried to always show my nursing staff a measured balance of tasteful recognition along with appropriate celebratory events. There were times I spent a lot of money on securing a notable nursing luminary to address and inspire the staff, only to get feedback that they missed the cakes, flowers, and cheap branded giveaways. Even that started to fall short with staff complaining that recognition was not distributed evenly across the shifts and a free donut once a year doesn’t cut it. Eventually other hospital employees also raised their voice questioning why they were not being recognized or not to the same extent.
When I opened the body of the ANA email I could click further to get to their “gift-shop” which called out “forget the useless tchotchkes – give them gifts they’ll actually use.” Or I could click on their media kit, order pre-printed individual thank yous, or explore ways to donate in the name of a nurse. On some level, it read like the challenge of how to appropriately celebrate and recognize nurses felt no different than it did 20 years ago.
Recognition for healthcare workers really came to light during the recent Covid pandemic. When doctors and nurses changed shifts and poured out into the streets, their community did perhaps the only thing they could do; bang pots, ring bells, and shout praises for the brave healthcare soldiers who were struggling to do their job – save lives.
What society learned in the subsequent months and years was what nurses really wanted was employment conditions they have always wanted: better staffing, more flexible work options, and improved structural and operating systems. Of course, these are “gifts” that take an extraordinary amount of resources, time, and fundamental change to bring about - impossible to bestow during a single week in the year.
When I was working in a design firm, I was one of five nurses in an organization of hundreds of architects, planners, support staff, and others. Even though many were dedicated to the field of healthcare, nurse week was a non-event. On a personal level, I missed the recognition. Although one year, the Healthcare studio leader gave me a bottle of wine with a thank you note for my “nursing guidance.” I displayed my gift proudly welcoming the opportunity to explain it to those who asked. However, silently I bemoaned the truth that I would have preferred being included in more healthcare projects or given more billable hours in the workplan rather than getting a bottle of wine once a year.
There are many different ways to recognize and honor one another, certainly on special days but also all year long in ways big and small. So if you are an employer of nurses, if you are a nurse, or if you have a nurse in your family; how are you going to celebrate?
Kristina Krail, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, PMP, EDAC
2024 NIHD President