Urgent care nurse practitioner Michelle Lew discusses her career journey, supporting new nurses in the field and how to prevent nurse burnout.

Q: TRUE or FALSE “Nurses eat their young.” 

A:  Partially true. Unfortunately, this type of toxic environment still exists. I experienced it when I started my nursing career and have tried to make sure that new nurses feel supported when they start their career.

Q: What is your specialty and where are you based? 

A: I am a family nurse practitioner working in urgent care in Seattle, WA.

Q: Any self care or mental health tips for new nurses? 

A: My latest tip for new nurses - short staffing is not your problem to solve. As a new nurse, you might have this overwhelming feeling where you want to help your clinic/unit out by picking up shifts to prevent short staffing. If you continue down this path, it’s a short path to burn out. Take care of yourself and enjoy your days off to destress and unwind.

Q: Before working in your current role, what was your nursing career path?

A: I started my nursing career as a CNA in a skilled nursing facility. I was a nurse tech while in nursing school, first on a med-surgical unit and then the operating room. I graduated with an Associate in Nursing. My first job out of nursing school was in plastic surgery. As soon as I got settled into my first job, I started looking at different ADN-BSN programs when I stumbled upon an ADN-MSN FNP program that was offered at a local university. My initial plan was to gain some RN experience before applying for grad school but this program seemed too good to pass up. I applied and got accepted.

As an RN, I spent 2.5 years in plastic surgery and then transitioned to do general and ortho surgeries for the last 2 years until I graduated from my NP program.

Follow Michelle @the.np.mom on Instagram!