While I have the pleasure of working with so many fantastic oncology nurses, I want to nominate Makayla Claussen, RN, BSN, MBTCN. I met Makayla at Vanderbilt’s inpatient myelosuppression/stem cell transplant unit about four years ago. It would be an understatement to say she lights up every room she’s in. Her energy and positivity are infectious.
As a 10-year cancer survivor herself, Makayla fiercely advocates for every patient in her care. While the clinic was in a difficult situation for staffing, Makayla worked overtime to act as a post-transplant coordinator for the clinic’s hundreds of acute and long-term allogeneic transplant recipients. On top of that, she also FaceTimes our CAR-T cell therapy patients nightly to perform their immune effector cell assessments — which are intended to identify neurotoxicity from the therapy — and is their first contact on speed dial if something goes awry.
In emergent situations, she acts as a comfort to the patients and family and a leader to the staff, helping to keep the calm. Her hands are never idle, and her favorite phrase is, “I’m here to serve.” As a clinic nurse, I recall countless times where she has jumped in to assist with management of decompensating patients.
Now, she has moved on to a leadership role in our clinic, but she takes every opportunity she can to jump in and help with direct patient care. She cares for our patients like family. She is what every oncology nurse hopes to become. She is the smiling face every patient with cancer hopes to see in the most difficult time of their life.
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