Acknowledgment system

1 At my old job, when a co-worker did something we felt was above and beyond their expectations (or if they simply did their job, without complaining), we would give them a "hand." With this hand would come recognition from the nurse manager and house supervisor for the floor, along with candy, and a copy of it in their file for performance review time. The person writing the hand could put their name on it, along with a description of what the person did to deserve it. It kept morale up and also helped others grow trust in one another. People were more inclined to help someone out if they had been recognized by them before for their hard work. It didn't seem like much, but it made a huge deal to the people involved.

On my current floor, we have no such system. I have searched online for one or even a template and cannot find one. There are a few people I feel that need to be recognized for their hard work, when saying thank you doesn't feel like enough. Does anyone have a template or an idea I can present to my nurse manager for us to use on the floor? A happy floor means happy patients.
It sounds like you already have the idea pretty well in-mind. Just go to the manager about it and tell her like you've told us. If you're using hands as the recognition form, it's pretty easy to just draw a hand.I think even if the official management doesn't adopt the system, you could do it on your own and recognize those you want to recognize...

At our hospital we use "Smarties". It is simply a post card with the hospital logo on it and we write a thank you note for what the employee did proving they are a "smartie" and we tape a roll of Smarties Candy to the post card and make a big deal out of presenting it to the employee. It's amazing how much these are appreciated.