In many cases, nurses are not allowed to receive large gifts from the patients that they’re serving. The medical relationship they have with their patients is key to saving lives and that must be preserved at all costs.
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Can nurses accept gifts?
Nurses are allowed to receive small gifts such as gift cards and gift baskets, especially if they’ve recently accomplished something.
No one in the workplace is going to blink an eye if a patient gives them a shirt or a stocking for Christmas.
The problem is when the patient begins to give the nurse a car, No products found., or anything else that has a large price tag attached to it.
This on its own isn’t bad, but giving to a nurse brings the expectation that there is something expected in return for those gifts.
Not always, but usually the expectation with those gifts to perform a sexual favor and form some kind of relationship with them.
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That is something that’s incredibly unprofessional for the hospital.
The nurse is going to be reluctant to do something like this since it could get them fired and their license could get suspended.
Both of the people could get sick from these encounters and they potentially might pass that on to the next patient when they see them.
That isn’t a liability that the hospital can afford to take.
Once the hospital finds out they have to fire the nurse or else they could be seen as complicit.
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Can nurses accept gifts from patients in the UK?
In the UK, there is a specific law that states what kind of value nurses are allowed to receive on the job.
Typically, gifts that patients want to show give to nurses are only allowed to go up to £100.
Most people don’t know this, but nurses do not make the most amount of money in the world.
See also: Do Nurses Make Good Money?
Typically, they’re only making a couple of thousand dollars more than people who are doing manual labor.
That’s not a huge problem, but it can present big conflicts of interest when patients are giving nurses expensive gifts.
Their one job is to take care of the patient and give their patient the best chance of making a full recovery.
However, when nurse receives large amounts of money, they’re going to be asked to do things that they didn’t sign up for.
This job allows seeing patients and nurses to have them in vulnerable patients and some wealthy patients are going to take advantage of that.
Some patients are going to want sexual favors from the nurse regardless of how inappropriate that is.
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And even worse than that, the nurse may actually consent to do those favors.
These people could get exactly what they want, but they’re not allowed to do it when the patient and the nurse have a professional relationship with each other.
Not only would it hurt the reputation of the hospital, but they could be liable for sexual acts that are happening at the hospital.
See also: Can Nurses Date Patients?
Can nurses accept gift cards?
Nurses are fine to accept gift cards in most cases but don’t want to continue a relationship after that point.
The best time to do this is after you’re completely done with whatever service that those nurses are going to be providing for you.
Sometimes, these nurses can only accept certain kinds of gift cards, because other kinds of gift cards could imply something for the nurse.
Doing this can be good if the gift is genuinely meant to be thoughtful for the person who wants to do better for that individual.
There is certainly a good amount of safe options that the patients can take to make the gift appropriate.
If the nurse has been talking about something that means a lot to them, that could mean a lot to the nurse.
The patient should look for something that will surprise the nurse and something that’s also a safe bet.
At that same time, the patient can’t think at all that this is going to lead to something more.
For many, that can be the very reason why they give others gifts.
Doing that can lead to some really bad misunderstandings and there will be times when the patients resent the hospital and the nurse because they didn’t get what they wanted.
You also have to be prepared so that the nurse will never see you again.
Their goal as medical workers is to keep you out of the hospital as long as possible and they’re doing something right if that’s the case.
See also: SMART Goals for Nursing With Examples
Conclusion: Can nurses accept gifts?
Medical workers go for long hours in the hospital and some of them don’t even make that much money.
See also: Why Do Nurses Work 12-Hour Shifts?
They have taken many years of school and training just to get where they are which does mean something.
Still, these people see themselves as secondary to the other people around them.
There are some boundaries that patients shouldn’t cross.
One of them is trying to see these nurses outside of work or other places where they know they shouldn’t be talking to them.
It’s only natural to feel a lot of gratitude to someone who has saved your life but realize when this way of thinking is doing more harm than good.
Ironically, nurses and medical staff put them in the most uncomfortable positions for the sake of their health, but can’t accept normal advances from patients that put their profession in jeopardy.
You can give these people smaller gifts, but as things get larger and larger, there is going to be more of a problem with what you’re doing.
No one is going to twitch if you decide to give a small gift card for appreciation of what they have gone through.
The problem emerges when you try to give them larger gifts for the sake of getting favors in return.
Not only are these people not obligated to do anything in return for you, but this can create a toxic cycle of expectations so most nurses will just refuse outright.
Now you should know whether can nurses accept gifts from patients or not.
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