April 2023
Monica S
Goodman
,
BSN, RN, OCN
Phase 1 Clinical Trials
Emory Winship Cancer Institute Clifton Campus
Atlanta
,
GA
United States
She is the first nurse I turn to when I need to make a big decision or change. She is the first nurse her peers come to when they need help with a patient.
Monica Goodman is the Phase I clinical trial unit's nurse educator, but she is so much more than that. Monica has been at Emory Healthcare for 26 years next month. Every nurse and co-worker says if they or their family were sick, Monica would be the nurse they would want to care for them. Her patients love her, and I can hear cheerful laughter down the hall as I write. She is the first nurse I turn to when I need to make a big decision or change. She is the first nurse her peers come to when they need help with a patient. She is always supportive of unit changes. Last year we made a significant change to our unit's operational model. We are a hybrid unit consisting of a clinic and infusion. We had a clinic nurse position that was a position of one. When this person was out or left, it negatively impacted our operation. It was apparent that we had to try something different. I then absolved our clinic nurse position and started a triage nurse role with the idea of rotating it throughout our team. Monica was the first to try and learn this role. With her support, we were able to move this forward and sustain it. It has been very impactful for our patients and team. Our team worked together and submitted an abstract to the Oncology Nurses' Society that was accepted for this operational change. I could go on and on about everything Monica does for our team and patients. I thank her at least once a day for all she does for our team and patients. I cannot think of what our team would be like without her.