10 Things: Gift Guide for Your Team

Time once again for our annual gift guide (you can see previous year’s guides here, here, and here). I’ve tried to give a broad array of serious and fun, useful and much less so. Click through to see this year’s recommendations. In addition to the gift guide I will also be posting an assortment of must have tools and resources from valued colleagues and friends in the field, so look for those over the next couple weeks.

Lines Notebook: No matter how plugged in I am, I always have a notebook with me for jotting stuff down, making lists, cataloguing ideas. These notebooks are inexpensive, interestingly configured and slim enough to fit in a lab coat pocket.

iTunes gift cards: The sheer number of people with iPhones and iPads means that there’s a great opportunity to give the gift of apps. Consider note-taking apps like Notability, a patient education app like drawMD Pediatrics, or a translation app, like iTranslate Voice. And of course, from a stress-relief standpoint, there’s always Angry Birds Star Wars.

Camera mugs: Nurses like coffee. Period. And these are much cooler than travel mugs with the name of your kid’s college or the latest cardiac drug.

IAFN membership (or other organization that speaks to the work of your team): Being connected to an organization that represents the work you do means being connected to emerging professional issues, current and relevant clinical research, access to educational offerings, and the ability to network with other likeminded professionals. Professional membership is an invaluable gift.

Journal subscriptions: Especially if you are in a freestanding program where you don’t have access to peer-reviewed journals, consider specialty publications such as Violence Against Women, Child Abuse and Neglect, Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect or Trauma, Violence and Abuse. Even if you’re in a hospital setting, sometimes getting the subscription delivered directly to your program means the journals are there to be read while staff are waiting on a patient or to turn over a kit to police. A great way to contribute to the currency and competency of your team.

Confessions of a Public Speaker, Scott Berkun (Kindle or Paperback). If I had to pick one book that really nails the challenges and triumphs of public speaking it’s this one. I have recommended it to everyone I know who ever has to present—whether to an auditorium full of colleagues or a board room full of hospital execs.

Tickets to a TEDx event: There’s something really inspiring about listening to great ideas, and while I can’t afford to go to one of the big TED conferences (many thousands of dollars for a single ticket), I can afford to go to a smaller TEDx event, like the one coming up December 1^st in Washington DC (TEDxAdamsMorganWomen, at $35 a piece). If that’s not feasible, queue up a few of your favorite TED talks on a big screen, pick up some nosh (and maybe a bottle of wine or a pitcher of margs) and watch them one evening with your team. Good times with smart people.

Giant Plush Microbes: Only health care providers can truly appreciate these, not to mention proudly display them on our desks (I have 3—not telling you which). They’re even on sale right now!

Thistle Farms Body Care Products: Made by women who have survived abuse, addiction and trafficking, their products are reasonably priced and support a great mission. I particularly like their travel survival kit.

Chocolates from Coco Sala: There are some things that can only be fixed by chocolate. And I walk past this place going to and from my office. Gifts from here will make you very, very popular. Their chocolate is divine. I love the rosemary caramel and the cinnamon toffee.