The Handoff - Issue #14

Hello fellow Nurse, this is your weekly handoff. Some quick and dirty nursing news that’s worth sharing. Enjoy!

Something to say THANK YOU

 As you know, tomorrow kicks of Nurse Week. So from May 6th-May 12th I expect you to walk around work with a tiara and sash and ask management to kiss the ground you walk on (well maybe not, Cdiff can live on surfaces for up to 5 months). This week we are taking a break from the dirty and down nursing news that we all normally endure together. Let us do what else we do best here at the handoff: laugh and unite. Thank you all for reading every week. I would love to send each and every one of you subscribers a gift, but I also make a nurse salary... So instead you will have to settle for this brief but sappy thank you note. I hope each and every one of you have the great nurses week that you deserve! 

Something to gift to nurses 

While hospital management doesn't always take care of their nurses, there are many companies who do. Below is the link for the compiled 2023 nurses week deals. A one stop shop for all your freebies! Chipotle takes the cake and makes it on USA today by giving out 2,000 "Burrito Care Packages" to nurses this week. Over the past several years they have given out 4 million dollars worth of food to healthcare workers. Remember when so many companies were giving out free gifts to healthcare workers during the pandemic? That would be just about the only thing I miss about those days. I am glad I write anonymously because I can say I still buy my running shoes at a discount because the company must have forgotten to remove the discount code from my account... the gift that keeps on giving! 

Something to remind you why you do this

This is an older video, but still my all time favorite sappy "go nurses" reminder. One of my college professors sent it out to all of her former nursing students when the pandemic first started and it has stuck with me ever since. Maybe it's the music in the background, but it makes me cry every time. I try to watch it once in a while now when I am feeling especially like turning in my notice to work to give myself a reminder of why it is that I do this. It is a great reminder of how much nurses have truly changed history. We really are bad ass and always on the front lines. While everyone else waited at the windows of the patients' rooms during covid, we were in there in the trenches so to speak. They need to do an updated 2020 pandemic video. Then I would really be sobbing. So give it a watch, have a good cry, and remind yourself why it is you do this. We deserve recognition year round. 

Something to make you laugh

 I love that reddit has become a place where nurses come to anonymously just say "Can you believe this shit?". This blog compiled a list of the funniest/worst nurses week gifts that have been received. One post reads: "Apparently the manager of the med-surg department at my hospital sent out an email that said 'You guys do such a good job. Why don't you throw yourselves a nice potluck. You deserve it'". Yikes. They didn't even offer to bring the chips for the dip or some store bought cookies. My personal worse gift was a cheap coffee mug with the hospital logo on it. They sold them in the gift shop for three bucks. I would love to hear your worst gifts you've received. 

If you liked this newsletter please share with your friends. Which bullet is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Email me and let me know.