Recognizing staff nurse job performance and achievements.

While recognition for work has been positively related to nurses' job satisfaction in the research literature, specific types of recognition that would be most meaningful have not been identified. In this descriptive survey, 341 randomly selected staff nurses rated the extent of meaningfulness of 38 head nurse recognition behaviors. The most meaningful, in order of importance, were monetary rewards commensurate with performance, private verbal feedback, and written acknowledgment. Three other categories of recognition were identified as moderately meaningful: public acknowledgement, schedule adjustment, and opportunities for growth and development.