Breast Care Nurses: Providing Hope and Light in Times of Need

With breast care nursing, it is a varied role which can range from breast care awareness for people without breast cancer, to assisting those with a breast cancer diagnosis, and helping patients going through surgery and therapy.

We talked to two of our nurses, Sister Kiranjit Kaur and Sister Eleanor Wong to find out more on how they have been going above and beyond to touch lives and transform care in each of their nursing role.

Nurses can be seen as serving on the frontlines of healthcare, they are the ones who spend more time with the patients with their round-the-clock presence and are often the first to notice when a patient’s condition has changed. As caregivers, nurses are responsible for attending to the various needs of patients, including giving medications, assessing different body systems, changing dressings, caring for wounds, providing education to patients, etc.  From providing medical care, to tending to the administrative side of things, nurses are often the patient’s first point of contact when it comes to all of these. And because of the amount of time spent with patients, it is often inevitable that nurses also tend to end up performing more emotional labour.

Nevertheless, passionate nurses still choose to stand strong in their career decisions, promising to serve the best interests of their patients. One of Solis’s nurses, Sister Kiranjit Kaur, Nurse Manager of the Operating Theatre (OT) at Solis didn’t chose to be a nurse at the beginning of her career. She merely followed in her sister’s footsteps. Now, Sister Kiran doesn’t see herself as anything, but a nurse that choose to dedicate herself to the care of others.

With over 20 years of nursing experience, Sister Kiran shared one of the heart wrenching stories she remembered to date which happened during her student nursing days. It was a 20-years-old patient who was diagnosed with thalassemia major and the team have been looking after her for a month. When she reported to work one day, she was shocked to learn that the patient wasn’t with them anymore. The nurses then chose to perform the last office together signifying a remembrance for the patient.

Being a nurse requires one to have a lot of empathy to care for their patients, yet one also needs to maintain professionalism in order to provide patients with the best end-of-life care. Dealing with death is emotionally difficult, and nurses have to manage their own emotional well-being while also helping the patient’s family deal with the grief. Aside from that, nurses also play an important role in a clinic and/or hospital to ensure a smoother process for the doctors, be it during a patient’s consultation or in a surgical procedure. When a patient is discharged from a facility, there is often some type of care that needs to be done at home. It is the nurse’s responsibility to educate the patient and their family members on proper at-home care, diagnoses or medications. Education helps the patients understand what is happening, why it is happening, and what the patient needs to do in order to heal.

As Sister Kiran says, “You know you’re a nurse when your friends and family start asking you about the medications they would have to be eating!”

Sister Kiran also spends most of her hours ensuring that everyone in the OT coordinates well as a team to provide a safe and conducive environment to the patient and surgeons.

When it comes to breast care, many women have a fear of having their breast health checked out or, if necessary, having to go through a breast surgery advised by their doctor. For Sister Kiran, she would share about her own experience doing a breast mammogram, and how it was a painless and easy process. She believes that early detection is always the best, and hence wants to encourage women not to be afraid of getting a breast health check.

For Sister Eleanor Wong (Breast Care Nursing Lead), she chose to become a breast post-care nurse after working in a surgical ward during her early career days. Although Sister Wong started as a dental assistant prior to taking up the stint in nursing, she eventually chose the line of becoming a nurse. Sister Wong doesn’t like sitting behind a desk and prefers to be ‘on the ball’ being a hands-on person. She took up a specialized training in oncology nursing, and then took an interest in helping patients diagnosed with breast cancer. As someone who provides post-care services to Solis’s post-treatment patients, she shows her concern and care in assisting them in whatever way she can, through educational information and even to emotional support.

For women who have a fear when they find out that they would have to wear post-op garments or mastectomy bra/wigs post-surgery, Sister Wong would let these breast cancer survivors understand the reason for them. She also encourages and empowers them to give themselves time to digest the knowledge and acceptance of the need.

Sister Wong’s message to the nurses and their patients is to “Be happy, love, laugh, and relax when you can. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything they have.”

Nursing truly goes beyond just the medical assistance offered, there is also a lot of heart and care that goes into the job. As such, let us not forget to recognise and appreciate the hard work of our nurses this Nurses’ Day. At the same time, let us also not forget to get our breast health checked out for our own wellbeing. As Sister Kiran mentioned, early detection is always the best.

Here’s wishing all nurses a Happy Nurses Day – Thank you for dedicating your life to helping others!

Article contributed and reviewed by Solis Breast Care and Surgery Centre.