By: Sarah K. Wells MSN RN CEN CNL

Still need to do some gift shopping for the holidays?

Whether you’re buying for your nurse boos, the boss RN, your nursing staff, or nursing students in your life, here are some gift ideas to make the holidays a little more fabulous:

Personalized Stethoscope Tag - Add a little personalized flair that will help keep stethoscopes from getting lost.
Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses who helped Cure Tuberculosis - Black southern nurses moved to New York City to work in Sea View Hospital after white nurses left en masse. While caring for the city’s poorest residents, these nurses, known as the Black Angels, helped find a cure for tuberculosis.
Lululemon Belt Bag - Cute and practical, this bag can work on and off shift.
Midnight Nurse Coloring Book - Color your stress away with these delightful #nursehumor coloring pages.
Rad Girl Creations Pins - Perfect for your badge or bag, these pins are fun to collect or swap with healthcare worker friends.
Burt’s Bees Hand Cream - Those hands work hard so give the gift of soothing hand cream for home or the hospital.
Latinas in Nursing - Latinas in Nursing is a compilation of the beautiful and powerful stories of the challenges, triumphs, growth, and discovery from Latina nurses working across the United States.
Tribe RN Badge Guru Set - 88 nursing cheat sheets on 44 badge cards, this educational resource can help a nurse of any experience level.
Sockwell Compression Socks - Hug those calves so that they can go the extra mile for you and your patients.
Journal of a Black Queer Nurse - This book is by Britney Daniels, a Black, masculine-presenting, tattooed lesbian emergency nurse, who shares their personal perspectives and work experiences. I loved it.
Figs Catarina Scrub Tops (Women) - My favorite scrub top, this classic style has the pockets you need to get the job done.
Figs Leon Scrub Tops (Men) - Same thing. Easy scrub top that looks good and will get you through the shift in style.
Dickie’s Scrub Top (Women) - A basic scrub top that will not break the bank and keep you body fluid free all shift long.
Dickie’s Scrub Bottoms (Unisex) - Scrub bottoms, no pockets, but cheap and durable.
Blackout Curtains - Make daytime sleeping better for the nightshifters in your life.
Portable Charger Power Bank - For the nurse on the go who needs to keep their devices charged up, this power bank is a basic essential.
Safe with Me Badge Stickers - Let LGBTQIA2S+ patients know that they are safe with you.
Caffeine til GCS 16 Sticker - This sticker makes me laugh every time and is 100% accurate.
Healthcare Affirmation Card Set - An affirmation card set made especially for healthcare workers.

Have more gift ideas? Share them in the comments below!

Happy shopping!

About the Author: Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL is an experienced nurse career strategist dedicated to helping nurses and nurse practitioners of all experience levels and specialties achieve success in their nursing and NP journeys. Sarah founded New Thing Nurse to help provide support and guidance to the nursing community in a simple and direct format. Sarah’s vision is to foster a more supportive and fulfilled nursing world that spreads throughout healthcare and beyond.

New Thing Nurse helps the nursing student, nurse, and nurse practitioner community achieve their professional and academic goals! Join us on IG or Facebook @newthingnurse 🩺

Christmas is almost here!

Everyone keeps asking me what I want under my tree. My list is going to challenge Santa because there are some supply issues this year, but I'm hoping that he can place all these items under my hospital tree & all the other nurses who made his "Nice List" this season -

Please make everyone wash their hands with soap & water.

Soap. It's a simple & beautiful idea. Everyone wash your hands with soap & water. Anti-bacterial gel is ok, but there is nothing better than plain, old soap & hot water. Imagine a world of snotty kids, homeless patients & confused elderly patients all with pristine & germ-free hands. I wouldn't be afraid to let people use my pen or touch door knobs. Maybe.

IV Normal Saline

You may or may not know that there is a shortage on IV Normal Saline injection bags. I work in the ER, so we use A LOT of IV NS. It is the miracle fluid. It cures everything from hangovers to the dehydration effects of GI bugs. There are so few interventions that make a universally positive impact on patients. Santa, please bring me some extra 1000 cc NS bags this year.

Full Staffing

Cue Mariah Carey voice - "Alllll I wantttt for Christmasss is full staffffinnnnnnggggg!"

I am lucky enough to work in California where we have state mandated nursing ratios. These ratios put a max number of patients assigned to each RN based on their patients' acuity or the unit specialty where the RN works. This makes busy days more manageable because you know that there is a limit to how many train wrecks that you may have to take on during a shift. But California is the exception & not the norm. I worked in Georgia for several years & know how crazy the holidays can be in the ER with 8 hour wait-times & ambulances flying in faster than you can count. Some shifts I would have a dozen patients, all with active orders & no help because of call-outs... AHHH! Even with patient ratios in California, staffing is often short in other departments during the holidays making everything a challenge. You've never appreciated EVS or lab staff more than when there isn't enough of them & suddenly everything is taking twice as long to get done.

That's why this year for Christmas, I hope that staffing is full for all departments across the land! May your care team be plentiful & your patients kind.

Now - A GIANT SHOUT OUT TO EVERYONE WORKING THIS HOLIDAY!!!

THANK YOU to everyone working, on-call, who just got off or if you're getting ready to go in! You guys are the heroes that make it possible for the healthcare machine to keep going during the holidays & enable so many to be home with their families. You guys & gals are incredible & deserve all the love <3

Lastly, I want to thank all the readers & #newthingnursetribe members who have started reading this little blog. I know that there are millions of medical bloggers out there & knowing that you are taking the time to read over my musings means so much this holiday & every day.

Wishing all of you & yours a very merry Christmas!

- Sarah @ New Thing Nurse

Have a new thing? Check out our services!