Melissa Gates always has the same advice when she trains new nurses:
Protect your license: Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and it’s OK to say no.
Think outside of the box: Dance around like a little kid; hold a patient’s hand; and improvise when you don’t have the right equipment. Think beyond what you learned in school.
Take care of yourself: You can’t just go to work, go home, go to bed and then do it all over again. Make time for self-care.
Gates admits to ignoring her own advice until recently. As a certified ER nurse, certified trauma nurse, certified pediatric emergency nurse, SANE nurse — and a single mother of a teenage son — overnight shifts don’t allow for much spare time. As a result, she has missed activities, school events and time spent together.
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On the hardest days when she has had to deal with patients struggling to stay alive, her passion has wavered. In fact, between COVID and the nursing shortage, she had considered a career as a doctor. She was even enrolled in pre-med classes. But then a patient changed her mind.
“She helped me realize that I wanted to be next to my patients. I like the closeness that you feel, and you only can feel that as a nurse,” she said.
It turns out that Gates feels that same closeness when she trains nurses. She said she loves to see them learn and progress, often feeling like a proud “mama bear” when they succeed. Saving a life falls into that same category, while her son’s achievements are in a category all on their own.
“I’m grateful that I can teach my son how to have a good work ethic, and that you have to make sacrifices for the things that you want and need,” she said.
