ALUMNI STORIES

Rachel (Jones) Higbee

BSN 2006, MSN /CNS specializing in Oncology 2009

Rachel Higbee wanted to attend the University of Oklahoma since she was a child. Sooner born and Sooner bred, OU was the only university to which she ever applied – for general entrance, nursing school and graduate study. A recent graduate, earning her bachelor’s in nursing in 2006 and her master’s in 2009 (specializing in oncology), Higbee said her time at OU has had a significant impact on her professional and personal identity.

“The OU College of Nursing has molded me into the strong, independent woman I am today. I have gone from being terrified to stick people or enter a patient's room to managing complicated patients with advanced-stage disease and assisting them in the last stages of their life. OUCN provided me with every ample opportunity to learn.”

Two faculty members stand out in Higbee’s mind when considering their roles as mentors: Dean Lazelle Benefield and Susan Radcliffe. Higbee worked as Dean Benefield’s research assistant and said Benefield “set an excellent example for me in regards to discipline and work ethic.” She said Radcliffe “was also an influential instructor in both my undergraduate and graduate courses. She encouraged and molded my strengths and helped develop my weaknesses.”

After graduation, Higbee worked at Norman Regional Hospital as a floor nurse on the medical surgical floor. She now is a Phase I Patient Navigator at the Peggy and Charles Stephenson Oklahoma Cancer Center, where she is responsible for accruing, consenting, and enrolling patients into Phase I pharmaceutical trials and monitoring their progress while on experimental drugs.

Having fulfilled that childhood dream of graduating from OU – twice over -- Higbee said her time at OU resulted in many lasting memories, adding that some of her best friends are from her nursing school days. The most special moment of her academic career came near the end, though.

“My favorite memory was being pinned at my graduate banquet by Mrs. Sally Tibbals, as this was the last year she taught and is now retired,” Higbee said. “She most definitely influenced my passion in caring for oncology patients. She is a lovely woman with an enormous heart. End-of-life care is something she strongly supported and hoped to spark interest into for all of her Clinical Nurse Specialist students. She was integral in integrating the End-of -Life Nursing Education Consortium training into the CNS program, which is additional training in end-of-life care. This opportunity is not typically offered within nursing educational systems, but was provided to the CNS nursing students at OU.”