Elizabeth Sasser's role in the Bone Marrow Transplant clinic is that of a Nurse Coordinator. This role calls for a lot of behind the scenes work and many hours spent behind a computer screen to make sure our patients are well cared for. She may not be able to spend as much time with our patients as she would like, but that doesn't keep her from doing everything she can for these patients. That is where her compassion for these kids really shines through.
Elizabeth goes above and beyond when it comes to assuring these patients get everything they need andmore.She is my go-to person when I have a kid whose insurance is giving them trouble over a prescription that they don't want to cover. I know when I come to Elizabeth she will get it done. Elizabeth will make sure that stat echocardiogram or CT gets scheduled. I once mentioned that one of our patient's parents was having some difficulty with all the different medications, and she decided to make them a color-coded medication chart with times of administration. She has since done this for several parents that need a little extra help.
For our international patients, we often have issues with embassies wanting them to return home before we are ready for them to leave. Elizabeth has started drafting letters to the Embassy to provide to the doctors, so we can respond as quickly as possible. Elizabeth strives to help our patients. She makes endless phone calls to families and medical providers, prior authorizations, prescription refills, vaccine schedules, letters to the school, and much more.
Elizabeth's passion for medicine shows far beyond the clinic with her constant thirst for knowledge. Since coming to our clinic just over a year ago, she has become BMTCN certified and is working on her CPHON certification. She teaches both central line classes and BMT transition classes for our families. She does all these extra things while still assuring that all our pre-transplant kids are scheduled for labs, organ evaluations, conferences, and everything that needs to be taken care of before their big day. These small tasks, that are often overlooked or taken for granted, keep our clinic running and allow our patients to continue receiving amazing care. Elizabeth is a large part of that and I am so honored to be working alongside her.
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I met Elizabeth roughly one year ago when she became my wonderful BMT nurse coordinator. In the BMT clinic, each patient is assigned to a physician, a physician assistant/nurse practitioner, and a nurse coordinator. These patients are so incredibly complex and often times very ill. Each team member plays a distinct role in that patient's care. Elizabeth goes significantly above and beyond for her patients and this certainly does not go unnoticed.
Elizabeth has one of the most positive attitudes I have ever witnessed. Our days in the clinic are exceptionally busy and at times very emotional, but Elizabeth's professionalism and attitude truly shine during these moments. She makes our clinic a brighter place. The patient's and families love to be greeted by Elizabeth and are comforted by her willingness to help.
Elizabeth's skills as a nurse coordinator are superb. She has the ability to get things done such as prior authorizations, helping families schedule other specialty visits, following up with families' needs, ensuring families and patients understand medications, reviewing home medication scheduling/administration with families, writing school letters, and working with home care companies. These are just some of the many things Elizabeth does daily in our clinic.
Elizabeth's organizational skills are incredible. Another one of her many tasks is to ensure that pre-transplants patients are completing their pre-transplant checklist, which includes several organ evaluations, numerous lab tests, consents, etc. This task is often overwhelming but Elizabeth is great at ensuring this gets done before each patient gets admitted. Her skills to follow up with our providers gives them comfort that when they ask Elizabeth to help with a task it gets done and is done well. This illustrates how she makes life easier for the patients, but she also makes life easier for all of our providers.
Elizabeth is one of the most compassionate nurses. Our job can be emotional at times and there are sometimes end of life conversations and moments. It is through these moments that Elizabeth makes the world a better place. I witnessed Elizabeth's compassion when she went to go comfort a grieving grandmother who had lost her grandson to AML. Her display of empathy and ability to comfort this grandmother was inspiring.
Elizabeth's positive attitude, initiation, organization skills, effective communication and wonderful compassion makes her an extraordinary, top-notch nurse. Elizabeth is a true DAISY Nurse!