Oncology clinical research is a unique nursing niche. It requires expertise in both the oncology field of specialty as well as the clinical research realm. Further working with pediatric oncology clinical trial patients requires a special type of nurse one with compassion but more importantly competency in this unique specialty.
Occasionally you find someone who fits this niche perfectly but manages to keep the patient and their family at the core of what they do. Missy is one such nurse. In addition to helping develop the children's oncology group (COG) program some years ago, Missy also currently cares for patients on these studies as the clinical research coordinator. Many of these children are suffering from acute oncologic conditions that require immediate treatment. The first steps of enrolling a patient in a clinical trial are tedious requiring the proper paperwork and consenting as well as biologic specimens to be submitted and require the coordinator to be present in order to get the patient enrolled.
One such patient, a one-year-old, experienced this situation on a Saturday morning. Missy received a call from a pediatric oncology provider stating that though stable the child needed to begin therapy soon and that the trial was the best treatment option for this patient. He explained that the parents agreed and understood that the coordinator would not be available to enroll the patient until the workweek began but that the parents were in anguish at the thought of watching their infant suffer until Monday. Though not a requirement of her job, Missy came to work on that Saturday to help enroll the patient in the trial. She stated that she felt it was the right thing to do and that she put herself in the parents' shoes understanding how scary and difficult their situation was. What's most remarkable is that this is not the only time Missy has done this to help a patient. She is a remarkable nurse who keeps patients as well as her colleagues her top priority.