What does a "Breast Care Nurse" actually do?

What qualifications or qualities do you need for this profession?
Noemi Eisenring, Breast Care Nurse
A Breast Care Nurse is an expert in breast diseases. Comprehensive, up-to-date and evidence-based expertise is the basis for this profession. In terms of training, basic training as a qualified nurse HF and additional specialisation (CAS Breast Care) are required in order to advise and care for breast cancer patients and their relatives. Furthermore, a Bachelor's degree for an evidence-based approach or a specialisation in the field of oncology is an advantage, both of which are represented in our team. In addition, a willingness to continue learning, as the types of therapy and options in oncology are constantly changing or new ones are being added. These are the professional qualifications you should have. Empathy, sensitivity and the ability to meet people where they are are the human qualities that play a major role in this profession.

What are the exciting aspects of your job?
Noemi Eisenring, Breast Care Nurse
As a Breast Care Nurse, we are an integral part of the interprofessional team and play a central role in ensuring the coordination of the patient's treatment and care. We are available as a contact and reference person from the time of diagnosis and throughout the entire treatment process. As a Breast Care Nurse, we have the necessary time to answer questions about the breast disease in peace and quiet. We also provide contacts to social services, self-help groups, psychological services and much more. The job of a Breast Care Nurse is very varied. No two patients are the same, so every illness and every feeling of illness is perceived differently. This means that we have to constantly engage with new situations and, above all, patients and their relatives and work with them to find solutions. It is important that we recognise the patient's resources and needs and work with them to see where they need further support.

And which moments are more difficult?
Noemi Eisenring, Breast Care Nurse
Cancer brings with it many difficult moments. Those affected experience feelings of anger, fear, helplessness and shock. A cancer diagnosis pulls the rug out from under many patients' feet and they often have to come to terms with the finite nature of their lives. There are questions in the room, the answers are a long time coming and or do not materialise. Enduring this speechlessness and admitting that you can't give an answer to the question "Why me?" are difficult moments. It is important to endure these moments, to stay with the patient and to feel that I, as a counsellor, do not have an answer either.

The patient now enters Bethesda Hospital, when will she meet the Breast Care Nurse?
Noemi Eisenring, Breast Care Nurse

It is important to us that the patient receives continuous support from the Breast Care Nurse (in addition to the nursing staff on the ward). This begins with the admission interview, which we conduct. If examinations are still pending before the operation, we accompany the patients. On these occasions, we try to answer any questions and explain what else we can offer the patient during the hospitalisation period (bra fitting, consultations, information on therapies). After the operation, we visit the patients every day. Some of these visits are purely nursing activities, such as checking wounds and changing dressings. But they also involve fitting aids (prosthesis/bra) or counselling sessions with the patient and/or relatives. However, this does not mean that contact ends once the patient has been discharged from hospital. The patient can and should contact us at any time, whether for a discussion or if they have any questions. We also contact the patient after their stay to ask how they are doing or whether they need any counselling.

What is the need for a Breast Care Nurse
Noemi Eisenring, Breast Care Nurse

As a Breast Care Nurse, we are very close to the patient. Medical treatment is an important part of the therapy, but emotional care, seeing the patient as a whole, for example in a family context, is also the task of a Breast Care Nurse. Only if cancer patients are treated holistically can they walk the long road of therapy with confidence, strength, courage and perseverance. As early as 2002, the Royal College of Nursing pointed out that changes in the care structures for women with gynaecological malignant tumours are also changing the need for nursing care, which is why there is an increasing need for specialist nurses in the care of women with breast cancer. The BCN as a permanent point of contact in complex treatment is an important development in the holistic care of women with breast cancer.

From everyday life: What are the most common questions that a Breast Care Nurse encounters in everyday life?
Noemi Eisenring, Breast Care Nurse

What symptoms and side effects can occur during the treatment process and how do I deal with them? What complementary and alternative options are there? What cosmetic options are available to me if, for example, all or part of my breast has to be removed or my hair falls out? How do I tell my children/grandchildren, how do I deal with their fears and worries? What physical changes should I be aware of in the future? How do I involve my carer and my professional environment? How will my professional environment react? Will I be able to return to my "normal" working life afterwards?