National Nurses' Week Gifts That Keep on Giving

In celebration of National Nurses Week, four leading CNOs reflect on the most meaningful gifts they've received during their nursing careers.

National Nurses Week. In an act of authenticity and transparency, I'll admit I have mixed feelings about the annual event. It was definitely started for the right reason—to recognize nurses for their valuable contributions to healthcare—but sometimes Nurses Week celebrations can come across as frivolous and insincere. "Thanks for saving lives. Here's a pen," doesn't really speak to the magnitude of the work nurses do each day.

There's data to back me up. In a 2008 survey "An Evidence-Based Approach to Nurses Week," which appeared in the Journal of Nursing Administration, 727 RNs at the University of Michigan Health System said they preferred educational opportunities (65%) over gifts (16%) as Nurses Week celebration options. I thought the article's authors came to an accurate conclusion when they wrote, "Nurses want public acknowledgement and recognition that their work is valued. They want substance not trinkets."

Now before you label me "The Grinch Who Stole Nurses Week" (though you must admit all those Whos down in Whoville would qualify as a population health cohort), let me clarify that gifts and substance are not mutually exclusive. Anyone who's received a finely crafted macaroni necklace from a preschooler knows gifts can be a way to represent the enormous amount of love and appreciation someone has for you. And sometimes gifts of a more intangible nature—like the gifts of time, thoughtfulness, and kindness—are the most meaningful. These are the types of gifts we should focus on during Nurses Week because they can genuinely affect a nurse's career or personal life for the better.

In the hopes of honoring the true meaning of National Nurses Week, I asked four nurse leaders to share the most memorable gifts they've given and received during their nursing careers. Their answers are thoughtful and inspiring, and I encourage all nurses to dedicate some time this week to reflect on the gifts your fellow nurses have given you. Happy Nurses Week!

The Gift of Compassion
Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN
Vice President, Nursing and Chief Nursing Officer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
President, American Organization of Nurse Executives

"One of my most memorable gifts was the compassion provided during my first year as a staff nurse," Burnes Bolton told me in an email. "The engagement and support as I learned how to apply the knowledge from my nursing program was truly exceptional. I recall the nurse manager taking me into her office after a patient's death and saying, 'It is okay to cry and show concern for the family's loss. You also experienced a loss!' I have comforted many nurses during my career about their experiences with [the] death of a patient. It is important to demonstrate human caring at all times, and that may include sharing in the grief process with family members. It is very important to model the values we expect others to uphold. Human caring across the lifespan with dignity and respect for all includes the provision of care from birth to death."

The Gift of Listening
Susan Campbell, DNP, RN
Senior Vice President, System Chief Nursing Officer, Advocate Health Care, Downers Grove, IL
Campbell told me she's been fortunate to have a few outstanding mentors during her life, but one who gave her the particularly valuable gift of listening was her former CNO and COO Sue Wozniak.

"I had gone from being over a division to being over 1,500 nurses at the time, and they were all looking to me for leadership," says Campbell. "She said, 'You have to develop that vision for where you want to take them, and the only way to do that is to really listen to what their needs are and understand where they're at.'"

Campbell says Wozniak, who is now interim president at Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria, gifted her with the understanding that listening to others is essential to becoming a successful nursing leader.

"At [the CNO] level, it's not about directing or telling people what to do," Campbell says. "It's really about listening to the true issue and really figuring out which problem you're trying to solve and then moving forward."

Listening has served Campbell well in her career. Despite initially resisting a move from the ambulatory care setting to the acute care realm, she has gone on to be a system CNO at two different healthcare organizations, something she says she would have never done without Wozniak's encouragement.

"She saw something in me that I didn't see—which is always the case with the best mentors."

In addition to listening to her own staff, Campbell hopes to give other nurses the gift of inspiration, especially to pursue further education. Campbell began her nursing career with a diploma in nursing at age 19 and, though she had a degree in health care administration, eventually went on to get a BSN and an MSN while she was CNO. Other nurses took notice of how she was able to pursue her education while maintaining a busy career and family obligations.

"I've had multiple nurses come up to me and tell me that they had been inspired by my story to go back to school," Campbell says, "and I think any sort of education is a gift."

The gift of Mentorship
Donna Giannuzzi, MBA, RN, NEA-BC
Chief Patient Care Officer and Chief Administrative Officer, HealthPark Medical Center, Fort Myers, FL, part of Lee Memorial Health System

"I had no intention of ever wanting to be in leadership," Giannuzzi says. "I saw myself always being the person in surgery at the bedside."

But Nilan saw potential in Giannuzzi and took the time to help her develop her leadership skills.

"As a young, new nurse, she would challenge me with new projects and she would place me in positions of leadership," Giannuzzi says.

She describes Nilan as a "wonderful coach" who mentored her from the beginning to the end of an assignment or project. Eventually, Nilan gave her leadership of the PACU.

"From there is really where I started my leadership journey," Gianuzzi says.

Giannuzzi admired many of Nilan's attributes like her communication, listening, clinical, interpersonal, and coaching skills, as well as her optimism.

"She always focused on the individual no matter what was going on around her. You were the only person that she was focused on," Giannuzzi recalls. "She had a gift to pull the best out in people."

Nilan's mentorship could be described as the gift that keeps on giving.

"Although I haven't seen her in well over ten years," Giannuzzi says, "every so often, if I'm struggling with something, she will call me out of the blue."

Giannuzzi strives to pass along the gifts she's been fortunate to receive to other nurses.

"Based on that example, I hope that [what] I've done for nurses around me is to give them that gift of time, the gift of listening, the gift of caring about them, and helping them develop to be the best they can be."

The gift of Being Genuine
Kelly Hancock, MSN, RN, NE-BC
Executive Chief Nursing Officer, Cleveland Clinic Health System, and Chief Nursing Officer, Cleveland Clinic Main Campus

Hancock says she has been blessed to receive many gifts over her nursing career but one that really stands out is the gift of being genuine. She explains there are multiple components to behaving in a genuine manner, like being present and acting with authenticity.

"I've met some great nursing colleagues who've given me the gift of learning how to be passionate, to continue to be that advocate, to practice with determination and grace," says Hancock.

"I think those gifts really remind me that our profession is filled with more passion and joy and self-fulfillment than, in my biased opinion, any other profession that I can think of," she says.

Nurse leaders can receive some of the most meaningful gifts from the nurses they lead, Hancock says. "I continue to learn from them each and every day. It's really shaped who I am as a leader, and I am so honored and humbled to lead this dynamic group of nursing caregivers."

Hancock received an unexpected gift from the group of frontline caregivers planning the National Nurses Week celebration at The Cleveland Clinic. When it was time to select the annual trinket to be distributed to the staff, they chose to go forgo it completely.

"This group of frontline caregivers that represented our whole health system said, 'It's much more than a lunch bag or a mug,' " she says. Instead, the group decided to give the gift back to their own caregivers.

Rather than purchasing a physical gift, the group decided to donate money to the health system's caregiver hardship fund, which is available to assist caregivers in times of need.

"That gift for me was reinforcing that nurses are selfless because of what they do each day for our patients, but also because of what they do for one another," she says.