From left: CHRISTIE GRIFFIN-JONES, MBA-HCM, B.S.N., RN, CPHQ, CRRN, and MIKELA PETTIGREW, B.S.N., RN, OCN
Mikela Pettigrew, B.S.N., RN, OCN, a medical nurse at The College of Texas MD Anderson Most cancers Heart, exemplifies extraordinary compassion and dedication. Day by day, she fulfills a promise she made as a younger caregiver.
Her drive and inspiration for oncology nursing stems from her expertise because the little one of two sufferers with most cancers who had been handled at MD Anderson. For Mikela, serving to sufferers is rather more than a job — it’s a calling. She views her work as a solution to contribute to a spot of therapeutic and hope, honoring the care that prolonged her mom’s life and helped her father survive most cancers.
CHRISTIE GRIFFIN-JONES, MBA-HCM, B.S.N., RN, CPHQ, CRRN, and MIKELA PETTIGREW, B.S.N., RN, OCN
As a teen, Mikela’s world modified when her dad and mom had been identified with most cancers. Her mom, Christine, confronted terminal kidney most cancers, whereas her father, Mike, was handled for colorectal most cancers. Due to MD Anderson, Mikela’s mom was in a position to see her graduate from highschool. Sitting at her mom’s bedside, Mikela discovered her goal and made a promise: She would change into a nurse at MD Anderson.
For greater than 5 years, Mikela has been an inpatient leukemia nurse at MD Anderson offering compassionate, patient-centered care. Drawing from her expertise as a caregiver, Mikela strives to create an setting the place her sufferers really feel accepted, supported and at house. She approaches every affected person with the identical empathy and dedication she would supply her household, guaranteeing they obtain not solely skilled remedy but in addition a way of consolation and belonging.
Mikela’s goal now extends past the bedside. As chair of MD Anderson’s Nursing Observe Congress, she is enthusiastic about elevating the oncology nursing career by collaborating with nurses and colleagues to enhance affected person care and advance nursing follow. On this position, she actively helps the establishment’s journey towards a sixth consecutive ANCC Magnet Recognition Program designation. Mikela splits her time between caring for sufferers on the leukemia unit and main initiatives to amplify nurses’ voices in decision-making.
Treating sufferers as an oncology nurse on the entrance line, Mikela contributes to modern developments in leukemia remedy, and he or she sees sufferers benefiting from groundbreaking therapies. As a nurse with perception into the newest developments in most cancers analysis and care, she views every step ahead as a achievement of the promise she made years in the past. Her dedication conjures up hope in her sufferers and reinforces her dedication to MD Anderson’s mission.
