National Nurses Week

“The true Hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive their deception, the one who lies with sincerity”
-Andre Gide



It’s that time again, National Nurses Week. I’ve always wondered what it was really all about, so this year I had a look at the Canadian Nursing Associations web site and it informed me that it is in fact:

“An opportunity to promote and show appreciation for the vital role nursing plays in the health system and in the life of every Canadian.”


Sounds like a great idea right? But let me let you in on a dirty little secret.

In my experience the extent of the celebration usually takes the form of a tacky banner posted at the main entrance to the hospital followed by a generic mass printed open letter (or email if your hospital has gone green) followed by a tea party that no one attends because the unit is too busy for them to leave followed by a gift of a pen that lasts less time then National Nursing Week.

I don’t know about you but with apprectiation like that I'm just dying to race right back to work of next shift filled of S&A (sh!t and abuse).

To my mind the sincerity towards the entire affair is not quite what it used to be not that it was ever really high to start with. Hardly a surprise when one considers that like most ideas of this type they seem great at first, but over time the value and priority once placed on them wanes especially in the face of year after year repetition.

I suspect that this is so much the case that I have visions of high leveled official types huddled worried in conference rooms with the sole item on the agenda being:

“What the hell do we do for these assholes this year”

A dilemma indeed!

Especially allows for the fact that nurses are for the most part the largest group of employees in most hospitals, and let’s face it; among one of the most important. Not to suggest that non nurses don’t have valuable roles in hospitals, they do! But face it, you need a lot of nurses to run a hospital well.

But anyway if the rumor I have been told is true this years token of appreciation may take the cake quite literally for lack of effort. I say this because according to a colleague of mine her gift was:

A cup cake!

Yup you heard me!

A cup cake!

My initial reaction to that which reflects my often over looked gracious and appreciative nature was to say “You have to be fu@king kidding!”

Note: Yes, that was gracious for me. Even I won’t write the not so gracious comments.


Anyway apparently she wasn’t!


She got a Cupcake!

My next thought was Wow, thanks for the lack of effort powers that be! That gesture really makes me feel appreciated!

I guess now my only salvation is the hope that perhaps this was something limited to her unit, which if it is the case isn't so bad. After all perhaps the nurses on her unit like cupcakes and if that is so it is kind of nice gesture. But the same assumption on an entire hospital scale?

I swear if I go to work on the weekend and find a stale cupcake sitting in my unit mail box I’m going to lose it! If in fact if that is indeed the case personally I would have preferred they did nothing! It would have been more sincere then the cupcake.

I will say this though, all this has got me thinking. Perhaps it might be an idea to revisit the entire National Nursing Week celebration. Perhaps a reboot along the lines of what we saw with the last two Batman movies or the new Star Trek movie (I’m seeing it tomorrow) is order to make it an exciting event again.

And it is in that vein that I make the following suggestion!

Let’s relabel it!

Call it: “Nation Nurses take the week off”

I’ll let you fill in the blanks as to what it entails.