Naomi Childs, BSN, RN

I attribute my success to my faith and my family. My faith guides everything I do - I work as unto the Lord, and when things get frustrating or people get irritating, I remind myself that it's not about me, because if I made it about people, I would have quit a long time ago. My family has been an unwavering support system throughout my journey. When I got pregnant and had to pivot from law school, my mom offered to take care of my child so I could continue, and my sister was the real driving force who did all the research and legwork to help me transition to nursing school seamlessly. I was just struggling and had no clue what it was going to look like, but my sister found the school, figured out what I needed, and really helped me make that quick pivot. I've also had several people throughout my 22-year career who have been great examples of what good nurses are and who have helped me mature and grow not just as a nurse, but as a person. When I was overwhelmed and ready to leave the field, there were colleagues who guided me in new directions and helped me find where I fit. My tenacity for learning and evolving has been key - I kept trying to find the place where I loved what I did so it didn't feel like work. And my grandmother's wisdom has always stayed with me: treat people how you want to be treated, because you never know when you'll need that person.

The best career advice I ever received was that if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. That really resonated with me because I kept trying to find the place in nursing where I loved what I was doing and it didn't feel like I was working. I went through several areas of nursing - oncology, pediatrics, case management - searching for where my personality and my passion were better suited. Another important piece of advice I received was to just breathe and take things one step at a time, because nursing can be so overwhelming. When I was working in oncology, I was taking the emotional toll home with me, smelling the patients at home, couldn't sleep, and was starting to develop unhealthy coping habits. Learning to separate my personal life from my work life was crucial. I tell nurses all the time now: whatever you're going through, leave it outside those doors of the hospital, and when you get back home, you pick it up and leave that hospital stuff at the hospital. If you don't learn to separate yourself, you will be overwhelmed and burned out.

I would tell someone entering this field to just love people. If you do not love people, you will not make it in nursing. If your goal is money, you're going to fail. If you're looking at it because you think it's a booming career and everybody's doing it, you're going to be miserable. True happiness in nursing comes from actually loving and caring for people, because when you do that, you will always put them first. You have to understand that when you become a nurse, people don't see you as a person anymore - you have to conduct yourself as a nurse wherever you are. I remember when I first got out of nursing school thinking, wait a minute, I can't do that because what if one of my patients' family members sees me? Nursing is not just a career, it's who you become. It's who you are. A nurse is not something you just pick up and put down - it's like a calling. You have to conduct yourself that way because people watch you. You always have to make sure that you're representing yourself as a professional, as a nurse, because it matters. You also have to learn to separate your personal life from your work. Whatever you're going through, leave it outside those doors of the hospital, and when you get back home, you pick it up and leave that hospital stuff at the hospital. If you don't learn to separate yourself, you will be overwhelmed and burned out. Just remember that nursing is a calling, not a career.

The biggest challenges in healthcare right now really are insurance as a whole. When I first started nursing, patient care was the driving factor. Now the driving factor is reimbursement. We deal with what we call DRGs, and once I did case management, I saw it totally differently because I saw the driving factor behind it all. Unfortunately, it's about what can you prove - if you don't prove to me that the patient needs this, we're going to deny it. We have so many denials because insurance companies say, oh, I don't think they need it. But we see the patient, we know they need it. The problem is, if you didn't put it in your notes, it's not justifiable, so they deny the services. There's so much bureaucracy, and it's hard to navigate nursing because of it. That's why we have so many shortages in nursing - nurses are running thin because of staffing issues and hospitals saying we have the budget for this, but they're not looking at the acuity. What happens is the nurses get burnt out and the patients end up suffering, while the insurance companies and families are still getting paid. It's like, you're getting paid, we're burnt out, the patient's lacking - where is the common ground? Where can we meet in the middle so that everybody wins? At the end of the day, if it's not making money, then your patient just suffers. I've seen some things that have just disgusted me. I've had to send patients home because insurance has denied them a place that would benefit them. I had to send a patient to a nursing home who could have benefited from a rehab, but because insurance denied it, he couldn't go. When I followed up with him, he ended up dying. That's what we're facing in healthcare - we see these patients, we know what they need, but insurance says no, and we can't give it to them. It's just sad to me. That's not what I got into healthcare for. My ultimate goal is to change healthcare as a whole, one nurse at a time.

At the core of everything I do is my faith. I'm a firm believer in the Lord, and I work as unto the Lord so that people can see my good works but glorify the Father. That's one thing I always keep in mind - I tell myself, Naomi, it's about God, not about me, because if I make it about people, I would have quit a long time ago. I just handle everything with love - you've got to love people. My grandmother always taught me to treat people how you want to be treated, and she said you never know when you'll need that person, so I always keep that in mind. If that were me, how would I want to be treated? I hold very highly honor and respect and just compassion. When I'm caring for patients, I think, if that was my family member there, how would I treat them? I just believe that if you do good, good will come back to you. If you always treat people right and always remember that it's not about you, you really can't fail. I believe wholeheartedly that if you work as unto the Lord, when things get frustrating and people get irritating, you remember it's not about people - you keep that in mind and handle everything with love. I just got done telling a young nurse about an hour ago that you've got to remember you're working as unto the Lord, because whenever you make it about people, you will get frustrated, you will get tired, and you will act out of character. Just keep it about the Lord and handle everything with love. Love, love, love - just love people. You've got to love people.