Nursing Experience of a Patient With Breast Cancer Who Suffered From a Fungating Wound

This report discusses an experience of taking care of a breast cancer patient with rapidly deteriorating, fungating wounds and herpes simplex virus wounds and describes the physical and psychological effects on the patient and the related decreases in the quality of life of both the patient and her caregivers. Nursing care was implemented from December 14th, 2017 to January 23rd, 2018. Data collection was performed through direct caregiving, observation, interviews, and chart review. Three major problems were identified: difficulties with wound care, psychological distress of the patient, and the coping problems of the caregivers. Based on these problems, nursing interventions were implemented. During the period, fungating wound care guidelines were used to teach the patient and her caregivers the core principles of fungating wound management. Meanwhile, the COPE framework (creativity, optimism, planning, and expert information) was applied to train the patient and her caregivers how to develop problem-solving skills and build self-confidence. Finally, the patient and her family successfully overcame these challenges. The patient was relieved of stress and anxiety, became better able to self-manage her symptoms, sustain hope for the future, and improve her perception of body self-image. We suggested that the patient and her family be considered a single, supportive unit and then helped them cope with the disease and build self-care confidence in order to improve their life quality and to coexist with the disease. We hope that our clinical experience will be taken as a reference by patient caregivers.