UPHS — Marquette Heroes | Patience Sager, MS, RN

What is your official title?

I am a clinical educator. 

How did you come into this position?

Two years ago in June, I was asked to shadow as an educator to see if I’d like it; I was a floor nurse at the time. I did some shadowing, some orientation shadowing and decided it was a good role for me.

What was your motivating factor to pursue healthcare?

I became a nurse because of my children’s births. I had a wonderful experience with my first child, and my second one didn’t go as well. My unfortunate experience with my care team led me to want to create positive change, and I decided I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I experienced. That’s what drove me to health care.  

What’s a typical day like for you?

It varies every single day. I sit on 15 different committees and work groups, so when we’re on normal operations, I could be bouncing around meetings and working on training with the diabetes educators or working with a new product and bringing it in and teaching the staff about it, or I could be running orientation for a whole week, so every day could be different. 

How would you describe your role’s responsibilities?

I am in charge of all the nursing orientations. I spend a solid week with them when they come to work here. I also do a lot of the training with all of the regular staff, help with policy and procedure, and bringing in new products and training with new equipment. If we have any joint commission visits, I’m also involved to make sure the staff is prepared.

What are some of your interests outside of work?

I love to be at the beach when it is nice weather. I also do photography and spent a lot of time with my kids; I do a lot of coaching with their teams for sports when we have sports, or hiking in the backyard. Recently, we bought a house with 10 acres so we’re doing a lot of work in the woods.

What is your favorite part about working at UPHS-Marquette?

The people. I love the people. Whether it’s the people I meet through work or the people that come in and I get to meet as patients, it’s a very honorable place to work and people look up to us because of this organization.

If there is an employee who makes a profound positive impact at our hospital, you’re encouraged to nominate them as a UPHS-Marquette Hero. To do so, email MARKETING1@mghs.org to make a submission.