Depression is an important risk factor, which can impede recuperation from any disease. This is especially true of patients struggling with breast cancer. This disease is one of the highest causes of death of women (Antoni et al., 2016). It is no surprise that so many patients experience anxiety. It is even more alarming that the more depressing symptoms a woman exhibits, the shorter her chances of survival are (Antoni et al., 2016). This tendency shows that an essential part of physical recovery is mental comfort. It is linked directly to the manner of nursing care. The more effective the nurse is in caring for the patient, the more likely they are to successfully recover. Antoni et al. (2016) argue that most critically, the depressing symptoms surge during the “diagnosis and treatment initiation, which are shown to be stress-inducing and lead to increased risk for a depressive episode”. Therefore, it is essential for the nurse to delicately handle communication with the patient. It is essential that a woman feels that there is hope for recovery and does not succumb to depression.
Proposed Intervention
The proposed intervention revolves around improving the communication skills of nurses. The staff that administers direct patient care should know how to convey the important information while enthusing the patient with positive feelings (Antoni et al., 2016). First, seminars should be organized to educate nurses on having sensitive conversations. However, a much more important intervention would encompass giving the nurses incentives to carefully approach the patients. A possible strategy would be structuring their wage based on the level of the patients’ depression. Such an approach would stimulate the nurses to assess the depressive symptoms and improve the overall patient care.
Citations
Antoni, M. H., Jacobs, J. M., Bouchard, L. C., Lechner, S. C., Jutagir, D. R., Gudenkauf, L. M., Blomberg, B. B., GlĂĽck, S, & Carver, C. S. (2016). Post-surgical depressive symptoms and long-term survival in non-metastatic breast cancer patients at 11-year follow-up. General Hospital Psychiatry, Web.
Leser, C., Tan, Y. Y., Singer, C., Zeillinger, R., Fitzal, F., Lehrner, J., König, D., Deutschmann, C., & Gschwantler-Kaulich, D. (2020). Patient satisfaction after breast cancer surgery. Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, Web.
Luctkar-Flude, M., Aiken, A., McColl, M. A., & Tranmer, J. (2018). What do primary care providers think about implementing breast cancer survivorship care?. Current Oncology, Web.