When Nurses Have to Work on Christmas Day: 6 Helpful Tips

Leaving your family to head into work on Christmas morning is hard, and a little resentment is normal. Most of what stings isn't that everyone else is off, it's missing the rituals you grew up with and pass on without thinking. You can't change the schedule, but you can decide whether to spend the day miserable or to build some celebration into it, for your family first and then for your coworkers and patients, who are in the same boat. That takes a bit of planning. Here are six ways to make it work.

1. Prepare your family in advance. Tell your loved ones early that you're working, and let them help reshape the plans. Frame it honestly: people get sick over the holidays, and working the shift is your way of giving. If you usually celebrate with extended family, loop them in well ahead so you can rearrange together.

2. Move the celebration to a different time. Depending on your shift, open gifts on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning. Santa can come while you're having the holiday meal, and the kids get their presents before their friends do. Save the stockings for Christmas morning while you're at work, and leave each person a note. If dinner is usually at your parents', ask to move it to the evening you're off, or the next day. The togetherness matters more than the date. Plan an outing to keep the kids busy and happy during the day.

3. Decorate the unit. Bring the holiday into the nurses' station, hallways, and patient rooms, keeping safety regulations in mind. Decorations don't need to be expensive, and patients who are up to it can help make them ahead of time. Add something for yourself too, like holiday scrubs, a pin, or a Santa hat.

4. Share gifts with your work family. Run a Secret Santa, or have everyone bring a unisex gift to a set value. Open them at a set time, like during handover at the start of the shift or over a break. You can also plan small gifts for the doctors, physiotherapists, phlebotomists, and anyone else pulling the holiday shift.

5. Plan the food. Arrange a potluck where everyone brings a dish, with table decorations, crackers, and hats. If the unit is too busy to sit down together, have everyone bring grab-and-go treats for the nurses' station: cooked stuffing and cold meats, sliced vegetables with dip, Christmas cake, biscuits, chocolates. Share them with whoever comes through. It's Christmas.

6. Make the day special for patients. A patient stuck in a hospital bed for the holidays often has it worse than you do, since you go home at the end of your shift. Decorating the unit and dressing for the season already helps. Where the patient's condition allows, relax visiting hours so families can stay longer. Spend extra time with patients who have no visitors, and consider pooling together for a small surprise gift for them.

Working as a team, nurses on Christmas day can keep the traditions alive and spread some of the season's warmth to their patients, the rest of the health team, and each other.