One of the downsides of life as a nurse practitioner is the requirement to work holidays. In anticipation of time off for the Christmas holiday, I crammed a few weeks worth of overnight shifts into one lengthy stretch leaving my brain foggy and my energy level low. There’s something extra draining about working odd hours while the rest of the world seems to be out celebrating.
If you’re feeling a little low about your upcoming holiday hospital or clinic shifts, cheer up the work atmosphere with these DIY medical decor ideas.
ECG Garland
Brighten the mood of your hospital or clinic’s drab hallways with a garland hung in the pattern of an ECG. Make the holiday gesture a bit more creative by recreating your favorite arrhythmia. V-Tach, anyone?
Medication Vial Ornament
This medical DIY project just may turn out so well you’ll consider hanging it in your own home. Insert an ECG strip into a clean medication vial, glue the top shut, attach a ribbon and hang to the tree gracing your hospital floor.
Christmas Tree Badge Pull
We’ve all seen floral badge pulls constructed from medication caps. Make the trend merry by designing a Christmas tree badge pull to celebrate the season. If your workplace is lacking in the green-capped vial department, snowflake badge pulls are also easy to make and outlast the Christmas holiday.
Pharmacy Bottle Christmas Wreath
Chances are the pharmacy dispensary at your hospital has a few extra medication bottles knocking around. Use them to build a festive wreath to decorate the nurse’s station. Add a touch of green ribbon to pull the concept together. Having trouble locating enough med bottles? Construct a wreath made from phlebotomy tubes instead.
Medication Cap Ornament
While you’re raiding the pharmacy stock room to make the medication bottle wreath above, look around for extra vial caps. Affix the caps to a clear ornament and hang the finished product on your hospital’s Christmas tree. The sky’s the limit when it comes to the design you create.
Paper Cup Snowman
Every hospital department seems to stock a stash of some sort of paper or Styrofoam cups. Craft a paper cup snowman to give your work station a dash of winter cheer. Top your snowman with a bedpan hat and your DIY project is complete.
Scrub Stocking
Okay, okay, chances are you’re not enough of a seamstress to whip up a stocking made from gently used scrubs but the decor concept was too difficult to resist including in this post. If you’re challenged in the DIY arena, scrub stockings can be purchased on Etsy.
Exam Glove Christmas Tree
String together an exam glove Christmas tree to brighten the I-got-stuck-working-Christmas mood in your department. With a little string, a few hospital gloves, and a smattering of ornaments you can transform the sterile hospital feel into a warm holiday environment.
Are you working on Christmas? How to you plan to celebrate with coworkers?