Breast Care Nurse
What does a breast care nurse do? My contact thus far has been one meeting on the day of diagnosis, one phone call approx two weeks later by me, one phone call by me last week and that's it. Is this n...
Forum Discussion
Hi,
As a nurse who has had breast cancer (and had a Breast Care Nurse) and then went on to further study to become a Breast Care Nurse (BCN) there is a huge range of BCNs and services available in public and private, city, regional and rural with not much consistency!!!
The gold standard is a BCN who meets you after diagnosis, and follows you all the way through your treatment, rehabilitation or indeed recurrence and palliative care if needed. BUT this is not always the case. Many nurses (like me) have other jobs as well....I am a midwife! They may be employed as surgical nurses, chemotherapy nurses, radiotherapy nurses, in Breast Screen with BCN being an 'add on' with limited hours. Many hospitals have dedicated BCNs who do follow through both public or private women though.
Best advice I can give is contact your BCN when ever you feel the need. They all have different 'follow up plans' no real strict guidelines, they would always be willing to chat even if it's a phone call follow up :)
Also ask at your treatment centre - you may find the girl giving chemo has done futher education.
Hope all goes well.
Cheers Jo