CBCN study guide
CBCN · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Breast Care Nurse (CBCN®) credential is awarded by the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation (ONCC), the organization that offers seven other oncology nursing credentials and reports more than 40,000 currently certified nurses across its programs. CBCN certification is built for nurses who care for people across the breast health and breast cancer continuum - risk assessment and screening, diagnosis and staging, active treatment, symptom management, and long-term survivorship - in settings such as breast centers, imaging, oncology clinics, infusion suites, and radiation oncology. The CBCN study guide has 5 sections and about 1,458 words.
01Breast Health and Risk Assessment
Most breast lumps are benign. Fibroadenomas, simple cysts, and fibrocystic change do not meaningfully raise cancer risk.
318 words, about 2 min02Screening, Diagnosis, and Staging
Mammography is the backbone of average-risk screening, and major guidelines differ on start age and interval; know the thresholds used at your institution and the rationale behind them. Digital breast tomosynthesis improves detection in dense tissue.
300 words, about 2 min03Treatment Modalities and Management of Side Effects
Breast-conserving surgery plus radiation gives survival equivalent to mastectomy when margins are clear. Contraindications include multicentric disease, prior chest radiation, pregnancy (at least in the first trimester), and persistently positive margins.
271 words, about 1 min04Symptom Management and Supportive Care
Febrile neutropenia is a medical emergency: a single oral temperature of 38.3 C or higher, or 38.0 C sustained over an hour, with an absolute neutrophil count under 500 (or expected to fall below 500). Draw cultures, obtain lactate, and give empiric antipseudomonal broad-spectrum antibiotics within 60 minutes.
272 words, about 1 min05Survivorship, Psychosocial, and Coordinated Care
Follow-up consists of history and physical examination every few months for several years and then annually, with annual mammography. Routine tumor markers, blood tests, and imaging in asymptomatic patients are not recommended and are a classic distractor.
297 words, about 1 min