National Nurses Day is just around the corner, Recognize the Nurses on your team!

May 6th is National Nurses Day and the kick off to National Nurses Week. Show appreciation throughout this week and every week to the nurses and caregiving professionals in your company and your referral group community.  

National Nurses Week is a seven-day acknowledgment that concludes on Florence Nightingales’ birthday, May 12th. Nightingale, long considered the founder of modern nursing, received recognition for innovative treatments she developed while caring for wounded soldiers in the Crimean War.

While at the base hospital in Constantinople, Nightingale spent every waking moment caring for the soldiers. She saved many lives by radically improving the sanitary conditions, dietary provisions and overall patient care.

Once the Crimean conflict was resolved, Nightingale compiled her notes into an extensive report, “Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army,” which inspired worldwide health care reform and lead to the creation of professional nursing.

Florence Nightingale's influence today extends beyond professional nursing to other fields like; infection control, hospital epidemiology, and hospice care.

Show appreciation to your nurses for their contribution to society and their devotion to patient care: 

  • Host a pot luck dinner for the nurses on your staff
  • Highlight the efforts of your nurses in your agency social media posts.
  • Promote teamwork and recognition within your group by selecting a nurse of the month that receives appreciation & acknowledgements.
  • Contact your referral sources to get the names of their nurses and recognize them individually with notes, flowers, or small tokens.
  • Plan an educational program at your local high school: A-Day-in-the-Life of a Nurse to highlight the importance of nursing and to inspire nursing as a career choice.

Visit the Tag web store for our full line of Nurse’s Week products.

 

Get ready for National Nurses Week!

Nurses do one of the toughest jobs in home care -- and in health care. An important national observance to honor the work these professionals do is right around the corner.

This National Nurses Week (May 6-12), make it a point to recognize the nurses at your company, as well those as at long-term care facilities, hospitals and medical staffing agencies in your community.

Here are some ideas to help you get started:

  • Place an item on your municipal government’s meeting agenda seeking to formally declare May 6–12, 2014 as National Nurses Week. Sign up to speak during the meeting’s public comment period or at the agenda item’s reading to publicly express your agency’s appreciation for nurses. Here’s a sample proclamation to use as a template.
  • Call your local newspaper and ask to write a guest editorial about National Nurses Week and the important role nurses play in your community. Be sure to highlight the role of the home care nurse. If a guest editorial is ruled out, write a letter to the editor with the same theme.
  • Contact the health or community affairs writer at your local newspaper and pitch a story on a day in the life of one of your nursing professionals. Identify a potential candidate for this in advance and also try to identify whether one of that nurse’s patients would like to be interviewed and/or photographed as well. Don’t forget to have any participating patients sign a media consent form if they do agree (here are two examples of consent forms). Important note: Make sure this is a no-pressure request of both your staff member and, more importantly, the patient. DO take no for an answer.
  • Alternately, you can invite a local or state politician to shadow one of the nurses at your agency this week and also invite the media to cover it. They will learn how home care nurses work hard to ensure the health of the community. You’ll raise awareness about the importance of home care while shining a spotlight on your agency.
  • Visit the website of the American Nurses Association to download a Resource Toolkit with tons of ideas and materials to help you celebrate nurses this National Nurses Week.
  • Visit our online store to order National Nurses Week cards, stickers, posters, notepads and posters. The products are fully personalized to your agency. If you have something else in mind, contact TAG Partners at 866-232-6477 to speak with a marketing specialist about your needs.
  • Partner with groups such as doctors’ offices, libraries and schools to put up displays recognizing Nurses Week. Be sure your agency’s name and logo stand out.
  • Don’t forget to spread the love at your own office. Provide a sincere thank you to the nurses in your agency and feature those who go above and beyond in your employee newsletter.

Salute your staff this National Nurses Week

We couldn’t do all we do without the hard work of the wonderful nurses on our staffs. National Nurses Week is May 6–12, and it should be devoted to recognizing the nurses at your agency as well as those at long-term care facilities, hospitals and medical staffing agencies in your market.

  • Host a special luncheon, reception or small get together to honor one or more nurses at your agency for going above and beyond in their work, for their years of service, or for their heroic acts.
  • Schedule and host an editorial board meeting with your state or local newspapers. Discuss the importance of nurses in home care as well as the nursing profession’s concerns about health care issues such as quality of care or the growing need for in-home care.
  • Visit the TAG Partners website to our full line of Nurses Week products. All materials are fully personalized to your agency.
  • Place an ad in your local newspaper to honor your community’s nurses. Contact your referral sources and get the names of their nurses to include in the ad. Be sure to get their permission to include them in the ad before it runs.
  • Place an item on your municipal government’s meeting agenda seeking to formally declare May 6–12 as National Nurses Week. Sign up to speak during the meeting’s public comment period or at the agenda item’s reading to publicly express your agency’s appreciation for nurses. Find a sample proclamation here.
  • Offer a sincere thank you to the nursing professionals in your own agency. Prominently display this thanks in your agency newsletter and on your agency’s website.

April 2014: Focus on education; celebration

Did you know that about 50 million adults have some form of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus or fibromyalgia? In all, about half of all adults age 65 and older are diagnosed with arthritis. May is National Arthritis Month and it’s a great opportunity to educate about this painful and potentially debilitating condition while marketing your agency.

May is a month when we recognize the vitality of our nation’s seniors. Not only is May Older Americans Month, but National Senior Health and Fitness Day is May 28. Celebrate your community’s seniors while you educate them about the benefits of home care.

May is also the month when it’s important to step back and recognize the professionals who keep our agencies and our referral sources’ offices running: nurses. National Nurses Week is May 6-May 12.

  • Celebrate the nurses on your staff with thoughtful, personalized cards. The cards help improve employee morale and encourage employee retention. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/nursesweek.php.
  • Honor your agency’s nurse of the year this month during a special staff meeting or event. Find great products to personalize to your agency at http://theadamgrp.espwebsite.com/.
  • Distribute fun and personalized giveaway cards along with a small treat that corresponds with the message on the card to nurses you encounter as you call on referral sources this month. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/giveaway.php.

Get Ready for May: Education and Awareness

National Nurses Week is May 6-12. Make an effort in May to recognize nurses and the important role they play in our agencies. Be sure to highlight the work of those nurses at your agency, as well as those at long-term care facilities, hospitals and medical staffing agencies.

  • Give nurses heartfelt thanks with cards, stickers, memo pads and other items developed especially for this special week. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/nursesweek.php.
  • Give your nursing staff a special item to show them how much you value the hard work they do. Find a wide selection of promotional products you can personalize to your agency at http://theadamgrp.logomall.com/.

Strokes kill more than 800,000 Americans every year, making this condition the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. A staggering 7 million people over age 20 in this country have had a stroke at some point in their lives. The seriousness of this condition underscores how important it is to get involved in raising awareness about strokes and how to prevent them. A perfect time to do that is May: Stroke Awareness Month. You not only may save lives through your outreach efforts, but you’ll be raising awareness of your stroke-specific medical services.

  • Call on clinical referral sources in your community and sell them on your agency’s outcomes when it comes to providing care for stroke patients. Find great Patient Outcomes Brochures for the Physician at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-outcomes-physicians.php. You can easily show off how you compare to your competitors when it comes to a variety of outcomes measures.
  • The Patient Outcomes Senior Brochures are a natural companion to the physician brochures. They educate about stroke in easy-to-understand language. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-outcomes-senior.php.
  • While touting your outcomes to physicians, show them that patient education is a strong component of your home health program. Comprehensive Patient Education Guides for Stroke not only are an eye-catching example of your work, but they help patients get more involved in their own care, which improves outcomes. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-education-guides.php.
  • Distribute personalized stroke care flyers at community health fairs, libraries, senior centers and anywhere that seniors gather. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/health-care-flyers.php.
  • Stock the offices of referral sources, as well as pharmacies, rehab centers and hospital waiting rooms with rack cards about stroke. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/rack-cards.php.

More than 50 million Americans are living with some form of arthritis, a joint inflammation that is characterized by pain and stiffness around one or more joints. That means one in five adults is coping with this disease! The CDC reports that about 42 percent of those with arthritis report that the condition limits their activities. May is National Arthritis Month, an awareness event sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation. Help increase awareness of this painful condition in your community while spreading the word about your agency’s services.

  • Visit the offices of your local professionals who specialize in treating those with arthritis and leave behind a stack of brochures about arthritis and how your agency’s services can help. Be sure to go beyond rheumatologists, internists, orthopedists, physical medicine, and family practice doctors. Others who encounter these patients include physical and occupational therapists, nutritionists, chiropractors and acupuncturists. Find the brochures at www.tagwebstore.com/brochure.php.
  • When speaking with potential referral sources, show them how serious you are about arthritis care. Show off your arthritis treatment program’s professionalism with comprehensive patient education guides. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-education-guides.php.
  • Market your agency’s services while educating about arthritis by placing rack cards in stands at senior centers, pharmacies, rehabilitation facilities and independent living facilities. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/rack-cards.php.

Bone health is no joke. May is National Osteoporosis Awareness Prevention Month. According to the office of the U.S. Surgeon General, half of all Americans age 50 and older soon will be at risk for fractures from osteoporosis and low bone mass if immediate action is not taken by doctors, patients, health systems and policymakers.

  • Volunteer to teach a free community education class about fall prevention or bone, joint and muscle health at a local senior center or library. Find done-for-you classes at https://tagwebstore.com/startupkit-products.php.
  • Provide brochures about osteoporosis and home health at the offices of your primary care and gerontology referral sources. The brochures educate about the condition and how it can be prevented. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/brochure.php.
  • Help patients improve their overall health with health logs. Having patients take an active role in their care will lead to better outcomes and better overall health. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/healthlog.php.