Episode 354: Breast Cancer Survivorship Considerations for Nurses

“You can give someone a survivorship care plan, but just giving them doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen. Maybe there’s no information about family history. Or maybe there’s information and there’s quite a bit of family history, but there’s nothing that says, ‘Oh, they were ever had genetic testing,’ or ‘Oh, they were ever referred.’ So the intent is so good because it’s to really take that time out when they’re through with active treatment and, you know, try to help give the patient some guidance as to what to expect down the line,” Suzanne Mahon, DNS, RN, AOCN^®, AGN-BC, FAAN, professor emeritus at Saint Louis University in Missouri, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS^®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about breast cancer survivorship.  

Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod 

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0  

Earn 0.75 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by March 14, 2027. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. 

Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to breast cancer survivorship. 

Episode Notes  

• Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.  
• Previous ONS Podcast^™ site-specific episodes:
  • Episode 350: Breast Cancer Treatment Considerations for Nurses 
  • Episode 348: Breast Cancer Diagnostic Considerations for Nurses 
  • Episode 345: Breast Cancer Screening, Detection, and Disparities 
• ONS Voice articles:
  • Breast Cancer Prevention, Screening, Diagnosis, Treatment, Side Effect, and Survivorship Considerations 
  • Improve Management of Common Symptoms for Breast Cancer Survivors 
  • Nursing Considerations for Breast Cancer Survivorship Care 
  • Sexual Considerations for Patients With Cancer
• ONS books: 
  • Breast Care Certification Review (second edition) 
  • Guide to Breast Care for Oncology Nurses 
• ONS course: Breast Cancer Bundle 
• ONS Learning Libraries: 
  • Breast Cancer 
  • Genomics and Precision Oncology 
  • Nurse Navigation 
  • Oral Anticancer Medication  
  • Survivorship 
• ONS Guidelines^™ and Symptom Interventions: 
  • Anxiety 
  • Cognitive Impairment 
  • Depression 
  • Fatigue 
• Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing article: Survivorship Care: More Than Checking a Box 
• Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing supplement: Survivorship Care 
• American Cancer Society: 
  • Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Facts and Figures 
  • Survivorship: During and After Treatment 
• Livestrong^® Program at the YMCA 
• National Comprehensive Cancer Network 
• National Cancer Institute Breast Cancer—Patient Version   

To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.  

To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library. 

To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected]. 

Highlights From This Episode 

“I think the biggest thing is to really communicate is that people are living with breast cancer for a long, long periods of time, and a lot of that with really good quality overall.” TS 4:07  

“As a general rule, they’re going to be seen by the breast surgeon probably every four to six months for a while. After about five years, a lot of times people are ready to say, ‘Okay, annually is okay.’ And eventually they may let that drop off. But it also depends on did they have a mastectomy? Did they have breast conserving surgery? And then if they had reconstruction with an implant, how often do they see the plastic surgeon? Because they need to check integrity of the implant. So those schedules are really individualized.” TS 13:24 

“When you think about long-term effects, I think you need to kind of think about that survivors can have both acute and long-term chronic effects. And a lot of that depends on the specifics of the treatment they had. I think as oncology nurses, we’re used to, ‘We give you this chemotherapy or this agent, and these are the side effects.’” TS 15:36 

“The diet issues are huge. And I think we are slow to refer to the dietician, you know, you can get them a couple of consults and because you’re saying to them, ‘This is really important. We need you to lose weight or we need you to eat more of this.’ Ideally, fruits and vegetables are going to be about half of your plate. And what’s the difference between a whole grain and not, less processed foods, making sure that they’re getting enough protein. And then once again, really kind of making sure that they’re not taking a lot of supplements and extra stuff because we don’t really understand all that fully and it could be harmful.” TS 34:53 

“Breast cancer is a long, long journey, and I think you should never underestimate the real difference that nurses can make. I think they can ask those tough questions. And I think ask the questions that are important to patients that patients may be reluctant to ask. I think giving patients permission to talk about those less-talked-about symptoms and acknowledge that those symptoms are real and that there are some strategies to mitigate those symptoms.” TS 42:28