Tevi is a Clinical Research Nurse based in Calgary, Alberta and shared her experience with us. She has her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN), and certification in Oncology. After working for years in acute care, intensive care and emergency nursing, she discovered oncology research, which is her passion!
Where do you work?
I work at the Arthur J. E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Calgary. It’s such a beautiful building! There is a huge Indigenous-focus here too, which I really appreciate seeing. The inpatients rooms are on the top two floors. Patients either look out at the mountains or have a downtown city view and it looks really spectacular at night.
What do you do as a Clinical Research Nurse?
I see research study patients who are outpatients that visit our clinics. Pharmaceutical companies, doctors with research grants, or government-funded agencies develop new treatments in research for all diseases. If our site is chosen, we open the clinical trial here and recruit patients who meet eligibility criteria. I look after oncology patients once they're accepted into a clinical trial and manage their symptoms and side effects. I do all the protocol required including nursing assessments, then the doctor sees them. Sometimes patients come weekly, every two to four weeks, or if they’re in follow-up, every six months or yearly. We do lots of blood work, ECGs, CAT (CT) scans, and bone scans to see if they're responding to treatment.
What made you want to get into clinical research?
Most of my career has always been in the areas of acute care, intensive care and emergency, but once I started my family, I couldn’t do night shifts and long hours anymore, so I went to the systemic treatment unit. I was administering chemotherapy at Tom Baker where I met my mentor, Heather. She was a research nurse and came to see her patients during their treatment. I found her work interesting! She encouraged me to apply in the clinical research unit. The job is patient-facing; I see patients all the time, but it's not bedside nursing or shift work. I really enjoy it.
How does your work impact patients who are fighting cancer?
Once patients sign up for a clinical trial, they get access to a Clinical Research Nurse. I provide the patients with my direct phone numbers and emails, so it’s easy for them to contact us. We have called it ‘Cadillac Care’ because it's above and beyond the standard of care. It’s a leap of faith for patients to sign up for something that they don’t know if it’s going to work or not. I’ve been in many patient visits where they just cry when they see a positive response. It’s such an amazing feeling of hope and I’m just right there with them! We’re not always able to rid them of their disease but they get a few more moments of life with their families.
How does your work impact the communities in and around Calgary?
We serve all Albertan residents but I’ve had patients from Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia because the clinical trial may not be provided in all provinces.
The Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology (CANO) has an upcoming national conference. This year's theme, which will remain in focus until the next conference, is “Striving for the Summit”. What does that theme mean to you?
I’m the President of the local chapter for CANO. Our local chapter is called ONIGA (Oncology Nursing Interest Group Alberta) South. As co-chair, I’m planning the CANO/ACIO 37th Annual Conference which will be held in Banff this year in October. Since we’ll be in the mountains, the theme this year is “STRIVING FOR THE SUMMIT”. It reflects how the nurse’s journey to strive to be their best aligns with the patient’s journey to strive to reach the summit, to conquer cancer. I’ve been a nurse for many decades, and I never stop learning. I’ve taken on these leadership positions because it’s just something nurses do; we always keep learning! We have annual certification days; we’re always attending conferences and webinars to improve our knowledge of oncology. And you know, that’s very fitting for striving for the summit. You just never stop learning!
Is there anything else you’d like to add or want readers to know about Oncology Nursing?
I love oncology nursing. The relationships you form with the patients, the families, all the different doctors that treat them and pharmacists. It's just an amazing discipline of nursing that I've enjoyed for many years.
Tevi was recently awarded a National Kidney Cancer Nursing Award last year in October from Pfizer for her excellence and passion for oncology nursing. Congratulations, Tevi!
