Happy Nurses Day 2021 from the team at CareerStaff Unlimited! As one of the nation’s leading nurse staffing and recruitment providers, we’re proud to join the cause of bringing more attention and recognition to the nation’s hard-working nursing professionals.
And as we recently zoomed past the one-year milestone of Covid-19, this year that recognition is needed more than ever. Nursing professionals are struggling to keep up with enormous pressures they’ve faced over the past year. And though the worse of the pandemic may have subsided in most areas, the mental health and wellbeing of nurses is still a top priority.
With that in mind, let’s all raise our voices in recognition and support of the many, many nursing professionals working so hard to keep patient care effective during this challenging time — and every other time, too. From CNAs and aides to LPNs, LVNs, RNs, NPs and every point in between, let’s let these amazing professionals know that they’re appreciated.
If you’d like to help us spread the good word about nurses and give them a little extra special attention? Here are five great ways to celebrate nurses in your facility. And remember, if you need nurses, we have a network of thousands across the United States! You can get the ball rolling by filling out a quick nursing request here.
And in case you missed it, check out our exclusive Nurses Week video here.
5 WAYS TO CELEBRATE NURSES DAY IN YOUR FACILITY
#1: Get The ANA’S Nurses Month Toolkit.
What began as Nurses Day and then evolved into Nurses Week is now Nurses Month, an entire four-plus weeks of opportunities to honor nurses. And to meet this challenge, the ANA has developed a whole lineup of resources for the entire month.
So, if you’re new to Nurses Day or Nurses Week, step one is to check out this handy Resource Toolkit from the ANA. In it you’ll find useful info on how to recognize and promote the work of nurses, and how to help bring the public in on this recognition.
The toolkit offers a huge range of articles and helpful tools for promoting Nurses Day all month long, including images and banners, posters and art for social media, and lots more. It’s free, too! You can get a copy here.
The toolkit offers a huge range of articles and helpful tools for promoting Nurses Day all month long, including images and banners, posters and art for social media, and lots more. It’s free, too! You can get a copy here.
#2: Encourage Nurses To Share Their Stories.
Covid-19 has been a momentous challenge for the entire world, and especially for nurses. And as fate would have it, it struck during last year’s Year of the Nurse — a time when the world’s healthcare organizations were already focusing on the important role of nurses, as well as how to better help support them in those essential jobs.
It was an ideal time to gather and tell the powerful stories that nurses have to share. And after a year of Covid-19, it’s even more important to encourage that sharing — especially since the power of doing so can serve as an ongoing inspiration and source of comfort for nurses everywhere.
“Regardless of your role, specialty or practice setting, each day, you make a difference in people’s lives and have meaningful stories to tell,” as the American Nurses Association (ANA) has announced to nurses. “By sharing your stories, you will help communicate a contemporary view of who we are, what we do and how we contribute our expertise and caring to healing, wellness, and health promotion.”
That’s a great call to action, and you can help spread the word in your facility by setting aside time for nurses to gather and discuss the experiences that have been important to them. It’s worth considering setting aside a weekly time for this, as well as documenting the results and gathering together your nurse stories on your website, or social media.
Doing so could not only help lift the spirits of exhausted nurses during a time when they’re particularly vulnerable, but also serve as a new way to interact and engage with your local community.
#3: Offer Recognition Throughout Your Facility and Within Your Community.
Another area of focus for the ANA’s Nurses Month lineup is recognition. Everyone knows it, but it never hurts to spread the word: Nurses are “heroes, innovators and leaders,” in the ANA’s words.
This is a message that’s important not just within your facility but also the entire community you serve. Connecting with like-minded people helps give folks extra confidence and motivation. That’s true of any job — but it’s even more impactful for nurses, whose jobs—like police and fire fighters — can be emotionally exhausting. For these folks, engaging with and earning some recognition from their community can go far in helping ensure job satisfaction and ongoing professional motivation.
How to spread the word about nurses throughout your community? The ANA offers some options in its Nurses Week Resource Toolkit, including offering honors to high-performing nurses, requesting a proclamation from the mayor, governor or other local official and getting an article or opinion piece published in a local newspaper or on your own website.
#4: Participating In The ANA’S “Reaffirming Our Practice” Webinar.
On Wednesday, May 19 from 1pm to 1pm Eastern time, the AMA will host a free webinar called “Redefining Nursing — Reaffirming Our Practice.” The free presentation is offered as a means to discover the Fourth Edition of the Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, which was released in Spring 2021.
Key points include the revised definition of nursing and scope of practice statement, changes in select standards and accompanying competencies and the addition of a new professional performance standard for advocacy. These are all worthwhile topics of discussion, and could directly impact patient care. Consider assigning a dedicated team member to attend webinar and have them report back their findings to the team. You can sign up for the webinar here.
#5: Help Your Nurses Focus On Self-Care.
While most nurses and clinicians can tell you that it’s important to take care of yourself, unfortunately, too few have the time to practice it themselves. Give them a hand by offering a little time and motivation to focus on making sure that their own houses are in order — a simple task, but one that nurses are too often not given enough time to consider.
“Nurses give so much of themselves and regularly chose to put the needs of others first,” as Lisa Kreeger, Dean of Capella School of Nursing & Health Sciences, told the ANA. “We know that the practice of self-care is critical for our mental and physical well-being. How can we make that critical move beyond talking about the importance of self-care towards true practice?”
Like all things regarding health and wellbeing, it may be necessary to help busy nurses focus on self care. You can hekp in your facility by offering reminders of this important goal, as well as arranging time for nurses to gather in self-case sessions.
Many nurses are already motivated by self care and self improvement. These are, after all, the building blocks of health, and an important part of getting healthy (sand staying there). Yet, too often, they simply don’t have the time to take the same precautions for themselves.
You can help take these nursing professionals to the next level by offering the means to better focus on self development. Making sure they have time to take the continuing education classes they need is a great first step. Even better it helping them arrange the time off they need to personal satisfaction.
For our part here at CareerStaff, we’re always working to help nurses and clinicians develop their clinical skills. In addition to a lineup of great career resources, we offer a constant lineup of great advice and tips on the CareerStaff blog. You can see all of our nurse-focused content here.
Need Nurses? We Can Help!
As one of the nation’s leading nurse recruitment providers, we’re standing by to help make sure your facility is prepared to provide the best possible patient care! We also offer a suite of healthcare managed services to help optimize your entire workforce process, from sourcing and hiring to payroll and scheduling, and lots more. Learn more by contacting us today for a free consultation. Or you can fill out our quick nurse request form here!