<p>I am wondering if any of you have any suggestions for how to recognize the medical personal that save a life? Gifts, notes, other ideas ???</p>
<p>Sure. Send a food platter (pizza & salad, bagels & lox, etc.) </p>
<p>Flowers also appreciated.</p>
<p>A nice thank you note is lovely.</p>
<p>I’d definitely go with food, delivered during the same shift they worked, if you can. And seeing the person whose life you saved, alive and well, is pretty wonderful too!</p>
<p>My dad was in the intensive care for a week. Every morning I took orders for Starbucks and brought coffee and snacks, and when the evening shift changed I did another run. It was REALLY appreciated. Last day, I left a large gift card and a thank you card.</p>
<p>Letter to the dept supervisor or hospital president or better yet, to the customer/patient satisfaction team. Letter to the editor if you are in a small community. Of course, sincere words directly your the team that cared for the person. Words mean the most.</p>
<p>^ True enough! But keep in mind that hospital staff used to be able to get food from drug reps. This is no longer allowed, and is often sorely missed!</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, the gift of food or as we call it “the Panini Parade” still goes on in many Doctors offices. Maybe in a hospital environment they are forced to follow the rules. </p>
<p>I agree a nice food platter of some sort with a thank you note would be appreciated. Just make sure the people who you are trying to thank are working that shift.</p>
<p>Many pharma reps are being forced to reduce their spending & are cutting back on what they give docs. Food that folks like/want is generally quite a hit, as are letters to their supervisors and editor.</p>
<p>^ The way I understand it, at least from the reps who come to my office, they now have to provide an educational service. They can’t just drop off food with the receptionist. Who has time for that? I guess some folks do…maybe if I spent less time on cc…</p>
<p>Notes to administration are very nice. But food ALWAYS goes over very well. Sometimes (often) medical staff are unable to take a lunch or dinner break, but food sitting in the break room is a Godsend, because you can run in there and make a quick go of it before running back to your patients.</p>
<p>Hospital employee here. </p>
<p>musica, that is a lovely thing, taking coffee orders and delivering! </p>
<p>I have not been allowed company rep food perks for for most of my career, so never missed it. However, working long hours with little break time, food is very much appreciated, as we sometimes are too busy for meals, much less breaks. </p>
<p>Notes with name recognition, if this is about one special person, or a few special people, is very nice. You might also note whether the hospital has a particular program for recognizing employees. My hospital has a program for recognizing employees with a donation in their name.</p>
<p>Thanks for caring enough to consider how to thank us for what we do!</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions. How do you go about getting the names of the people who helped and making sure that they are there when you bring something?</p>
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<p>Haha, if you are like the rest of us I guess you are going to stay hungry.</p>
<p>My sister is a nurse and just recently the family of a patient gave her a ten pound bag of Hershey’s kisses (or as they said “a thousand kisses”) to thank her for taking care of their very difficult elderly mother during her last days. My sister was touched by the gesture and able to share the chocolate with many other nurses and doctors.</p>
<p>I’m not sure they would release the names of EVERYONE who may have had a hand in helping your loved one during his/her stay at the hospital. If you want to give a gift and ask that it please be shared with all the staff that helped your loved one who was at ICU on dates ________ through _______, I’m sure they will do their best to be sure that everyone involved gets a share. The medical staff I know have rotating shifts and vacations, so they don’t necessarily work the same day of week or even same time of the day from one week to the next. I think if you write a heartfelt note, they will be sure to share it as well. It likely evens out if you bring something healthy-ish that stays edible for a prolonged period of time and they can leave it in their lounge to share.</p>
<p>We have always brought to the hospital: bagels/cream cheese/lox mix and veggies (especially for the night shift), boxes of See’s candy, (when my daughter worked for them and got a disount) Sprinkles cupcakes and 2 o 3 dozen of Diddy Reese cookies.</p>
<p>We deliver the bulk to the nurse’s station but bring some into the room of the patient. It does make a difference.</p>
<p>ER nurse here.<br>
We always appreciated a gift of food. Sometimes just sending in a Pizza delivery, or a bagel platter, candy or cookies is very much appreciated. It is always better to send in food for everyone, rather than single out the one person, because it takes a team effort and the patient isnt always aware of the many people it takes to treat a patient in the ER. The aid that made your bed, or took you vital signs, the nurse that may have been covering your primary nurse while she was at lunch, the charge nurse who was watching your monitor at the desk and the hospitality representative that kept your family informed or the triage nurse that categorized your urgency to be seen right away. Group effort and team approach. A note to the supervisor on the good care you received is always appreciated.</p>
<p>The hospital that we use (Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles) ALWAYS contacts patients to inquire about our care during stay, be it in patient, testing or er only. I always filled out the form. I found out after a stay that those patient comments lead to bonuses/shift choice/commendations.</p>
<p>So…bring those trays of food in…and they don not have to be expensive…2 dozen bagels and cream cheese cost $25…the response…priceless.</p>
<p>I work as a nurse and what I really love is when a patient or family memener sends a letter or card to my manager or an administrator with my name mentioned. i prefer that recognition to any donuts or candy! i also like seeing the patient healthier!!! especially if a life was saved literally or the patient wasnt expected to survive or return to a previous state of health.</p>
<p>I don’t remember if I gave the drs and nurses that took care of D in theNICU anything, but I used to bring her back to visit, which tickled them to death, because she had gone from stable to critical in a short period of time, and they didn’t expect her to pull through. When D graduated from college, I noticed that the resident who had been on call when she had surgery, was written about in the paper and was still in the area, so I sent her an email and a picture. It made me feel good. :)</p>