"Lighthouse in the dark": a qualitative study of the role of breast care nurse specialists in Israel.

ABSTRACT

This study gains insight into the role of the breast care nurse specialist through an analysis of thank you letters written by women with breast cancer in a tertiary hospital in Israel. Descriptive content analysis was used to analyze 125 thank you letters. The findings revealed three aspects of the role of the breast care nurse specialist instrumental, cognitive, and emotional. The women described these aspects as "paving the way through bureaucracy" (instrumental), being a "traffic light at a crossroad in life" (cognitive), and treating each one of them "as if I am your only patient" (emotional). This analysis highlighted the significance of the breast care nurse specialist in a holistic and integrative role that fills a gap within the biomedical healthcare system. Transferability of the findings to other nurse specialist roles in different clinical settings should be investigated.