Focus on Patient Care With Monica Feiler, Hematology Oncology Nurse

Focus On highlights faculty, staff, students and researchers at the UC Academic Health Center. To suggest someone to be featured, please email uchealthnews@uc.edu.

Monica Feiler has worked within the UC Health family since starting her career in nursing, spending about five years as a nurse with the inpatient oncology unit at University Hospital while she completed her advanced practice nurse training. She assumed her current role as nurse practitioner at the UC Health Barrett Cancer Center in late 2009, where she works side-by-side with medical oncologists Olivier Rixe, MD, PhD, and Olugbenga Olowokure, MD.

Feiler completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the UC College of Nursing. She also holds a bachelor’s in English from Xavier University. Here she tells us about her role as a nurse in the Barrett Center and what motivated her to pursue oncology nursing.

Describe your average day in the clinic.

"One moment, I’m working with a patient to help alleviate nausea, and the next I’m on the phone with an insurance provider trying to sort out medical coverage. A lot of what I do is troubleshooting and alleviated fear. Every day is different, and I get so much satisfaction out of maintaining the balancing act because at the end of the day, it helps our patients feel truly cared for. I interact with about 150 cancer patients, so it keeps me on my toes."

What inspired you to pursue a career in oncology?

"During the last quarter of my nursing rotation, I had the privilege of caring for patients admitted to the inpatient oncology floor at UC Health University Hospital. At the time, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to work. That experience brought everything into focus for me. I fell in love with the complexity of cancer care and the patients during that oncology rotation. I knew then that oncology nursing was exactly what I wanted to do."

What do you do in your spare time?

"I love gardening. This summer, I spent my vacation working to my yard and vegetable garden. When I can, I escape to a national park to camp and hike. I’ve also been known to induldge in a trashy murder mystery now and then."