Breast Pathology and Cancer Diagnosis

Breast Cancer and Nursing

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Oncology nurses are such important components of our care. They interact directly with patients in a way that allows them to monitor what's going on at a granular level. Oncology nurses are great at making sure they are staying on the pulse of patient symptoms, not only when they're in the clinic, but when they call in with symptoms. More and more people are using telemedicine to report their symptoms.

Oncology nurses are trained to recognize the common side effects that we see, and even some of the less common ones. To intervene early is so important. Things like diarrhea and dehydration—we need to know about those and monitor them early. Things like complications of chemo that are also common with low white blood cell counts and infections or fevers, those need to be intervened right away. The oncology nurse can intervene in not only assessment but also in recommending the types of supportive care approaches that would be critical to keeping patients out of trouble.