I can't think of a person more deserving of an Award that celebrates "skillful compassionate care," or the NYP strategy of "we put patients first," than Marcus Hoover.
Working in Heme/Onc our patients are inherently vulnerable. They come acutely ill and at risk for severe complications. Many of our patients stay for weeks, or even months at a time, and see their functional status decline from what they are used to. As such, it is all the more important to have a nurse who is sensitive and patient; who can alleviate their anxieties and make them feel safe and secure in trusting their care to us.
Marcus is a paragon of what an oncology nurse should be. His listening skills and ability to connect on a deep level with all of his patients, regardless of culture or race, are unparalleled. He led a "commit to sit" initiative on our unit in 2018, encouraging all nursing staff to spend at least 15 minutes per shift sitting down at eye level with their patients to just schmooze. For Marcus, that was nothing new. He has been doing that since the beginning. It was about bringing a new attitude toward the unit—not just "we put patients first," but also "patients are people first." As a result, we not just saw our HCAHP scores increase over the year, but we saw our culture change as well. It became a running joke that no one wanted to be the nurse after Marcus because the patients would always rave about him.
To illustrate that point, just a couple of weeks ago I had a patient with newly diagnosed leukemia. Here for a 28-day hospital stay, he was on day 7/7 of an aggressive course of intense chemotherapy. Having only been diagnosed mere days before treatment started, my otherwise healthy patient—a husband and father of 3 young kids—was going through a very hard time, struggling with depression and intense existential fear. I knew he needed a morale booster—some sort of psychological and emotional "pick-me-up."
I explained the situation to Marcus, who had never met the patient before, on my way into the room to hang his last bag of chemotherapy. Instinctively and effortlessly, Marcus struck up a lighthearted conversation with my patient and had him laughing in no time. On top of all that he was able to help me come up with a creative way to give my patient that morale booster he needed. Through the small talk, he found out my patient's favorite soccer club was Liverpool F.C. Their slogan we learned was "you'll never walk alone," after a popular British song from the 1940s. Thinking on his feet, he immediately pulled out a sharpie and told me to write "you'll never walk alone" on his bag of chemo, which would be hanging for the next 24 hours. The gesture meant more to my patient than words can adequately describe. He became quite emotional, as did his wife the next day when she saw those words written there prominently in permanent marker. He told us the next day it gave him more energy and more fight—just what he needed to face the long uphill fight coming up, because suddenly his chemo, the symbol of his anxieties and fears, was turned into a symbol of his will to persevere and fight.
And that is just one story, representing what very much routine for Marcus— that is, connecting with patients in a compassionate and human way to put them in the right frame of mind for healing to take place.
Beyond the actual bedside, he is a powerful presence. Although he has only been for three years, he is a leader, a motivator and a teacher to his coworkers, and an invaluable resource across the floor, to RNs, PAs, and even attending physicians alike. He is a certified nurse, recently became a senior staff RN, and is always involved in QI initiatives to improve the unit. He is a staple during codes and RRTs. Few nurses think faster than him and are as clinically proficient.
One night, in particular, stands out. He had a patient who had severe respiratory complications secondary to treatment-related pancytopenia. He was bleeding from somewhere in his nasopharynx. It was bad enough that it was dripping into his lungs and causing his oxygen saturation to drop and BP to plummet. Fluid boluses, PRBCs, and platelets were of limited help, because of poor cardiac function and multiple comorbidities. As a result, Marcus was in the room constantly giving more meds, helping with procedures, and doing a lot of hand holding with the patient and his many family members. It was the single busiest night I've ever seen anyone have in my time here. Sweat pouring down his face, he kept his composure, parked himself by the bedside with a WOW for charting, and seemingly singlehandedly kept that patient alive long enough for him to be transferred to the MICU, a mere 10 hours later. He was so impressive that night, that even though the patient ended up dying later that day, his family took the time to write a letter commending his performance that night because they were so touched by his excellence.
Clearly, Marcus is a DAISY Nurse. His presence on 10S has transformed the culture to a place that truly embodies NYP's missive of "we put patients first."