Every day, nurses make thousands of judgment calls that shape safety at the bedside. In this installment of Healthcare Affirmations, we’re spotlighting Leah, an Oncology Nurse Educator at mid-sized healthcare system on the East Coast, whose work turns complex safety policies into usable action for frontline teams.
Leah’s role blends education with staffing in infusion and clinic, because in a resource-tight, rural system, everyone wears more than one hat. Her “why” is simple: make nurses’ days easier and safer.
“I’m always asking, what will help in the moment something happens? If there’s an extravasation, I want the algorithm right there so we can move within minutes and not spend half an hour figuring out next steps.”
She builds quick-grab resources: concise drug education sheets for new therapies, extravasation algorithms from CJON (Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing) at the ready, and a binder at the charge desk so no one has to hunt through inboxes during a crisis. If pharmacy flags a new medication at huddle, Leah is on it: “Send me the name. I’ll get nurses what they need before first dose.”
Leah has seen what happens when hazardous-drug policies live in sprawling spreadsheets or buried PDFs, and when nurses aren’t part of writing them. In her world, access and inclusion are non-negotiable.
Nurses want a reliable, single source of truth, she says. “It’s nice to have your health system say, this is our source for trusted information. We currently have various resources, and when nobody says, ‘This is the one to go to,’ you’re left tracking down multiple sources and trying to make the decision yourself. Nurses get tired of wondering, ‘Where do I go? Which one do I go to? Which one is right?’ But nurses do want safety information to protect themselves when handling hazardous drugs.”
That’s why she champions quick, visible education, including emails plus printed copies, binders, and short huddle touchpoints. When leaders bring nursing in early, adoption goes up. When they don’t, “people default to what feels fastest,” and safety suffers.
Does she see alert fatigue? Yes—and. Nurses juggle EHR hurdles, printers, labels, and a full patient load. Leah’s answer is relevance + brevity: surface the few things that matter most for today’s patients and make them frictionless to find.
Budgets are tight, and Leah’s team makes the most of every resource. She still shows up with practical creativity, like an education escape room in her skills fair, to make safety memorable and fast. When time was tight, she pivoted: self-guided challenges, clean posters, and just-in-time handouts to move 20+ nurses through in two hours.
She follows ONS closely (journals, podcast, Congress) and taps ANPD (Association of Nursing Professional Development) for nurse-education best practices.
Safety doesn’t stop at infusion. OR and PACU recently asked Leah for USP <800> training on bladder instillations. In a part-time role, she can’t be everywhere, but she’s pushing for a stronger, more consistent structure, like a USP <800> committee that meets more regularly and sets cross-departmental standards, because hazardous drugs touch ED, pediatrics, perioperative care, and beyond.
Staffing. Fewer people, but the same standards. Attrition demoralizes teams and undermines consistency. Leah’s answer is to lower the friction to doing the right thing: clear, quick resources; aligned policies; and visible leadership support.
After stepping away from nursing for several years, Leah returned hungry to learn. New setting, new drugs, new gaps, especially the realization that there was no dedicated educator. She and a colleague started Zoom in-services, then quarterly three-hour blocks with schedules protected. Nurses appreciated it, even when the workload was overwhelming. Leah’s work grew into a part-time educator role.
“It’s not fair,” she says. “We have young nurses and other colleagues who want to have families and need to be protected. Everyone needs to be protected.”
And it’s not just about staff; it’s about her community, too.
“Medication safety is for everyone. It’s for the nurses and the patients. Many of the patients are friends or parents of kids’ friends who come here for care. I want them to get the best care.”
Affirmation
“Make safety the easy choice. Put the right resource in the right hands at the right moment, and nurses will use it.”
Closing Reflection
At Rpharmy, we believe patient and healthcare worker safety improves when the people who use the policy help write it and when guidance is one click away. Leah’s story reminds us that clarity beats complexity, and that even with limited resources, practical creativity moves mountains.