Image Credit: patientnavigatortraining.org
Patient Navigation Competencies from the George Washington University Cancer Institute is a comprehensive document that outlines some of the primary domains of Patient Navigators. Some of these include:
- Patient Care
- Knowledge for Practice
- Practice-Based Learning and Improvement
- Interpersonal and Communication Skills
- Systems-Based Practice
- Interprofessional Collaboration
The George Washington University Cancer Institute also has developed a Patient Navigation Barriers and Outcomes Tool (PN-BOT), which is a free Excel-based data entry, data management, and reporting product that is designed for oncology patient navigation programs. It can be used to document, track, and generate reports on data including patient volume and demographics, cancer treatment profiles and timeliness of care, barriers to care, patient outcomes, and others.
Research to Reality, a division of the NIH National Cancer Institute, has a series of cyber seminars, including topics such as “Tobacco Control and Cancer Survivorship: from Science to Strategies” and “Cancer Survivorship and Cancer Control: Working Towards a Coordinated Approach.” The website also has a discussion area, where people can ask questions and exchange ideas about the Cyber Seminars.
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) has a Cancer Care Patient Navigation: A Call to Action online resource, which contains information on:
- identifying barriers to care access
- increasing successful patient navigation
- refining staffing models
- establishing effective metrics for measuring patient navigation services internally, as well as comparing services against other community cancer centers
Patient Navigation: Resources and Tools for the Multidisciplinary Team: The ACCC also has information on which positions fall under the domain of “patient navigation” and includes guidelines for successful navigation.
- Patient Navigator positions can involve a variety of tasks, including:
- assisting the patient with paperwork
- assess physical, spiritual, emotional, etc. needs of the patient
- assisting the patient with overcoming barriers to care, such as transportation or childcare
- point patients and their families to appropriate community resources
- Formal Patient Navigators can fall under several job descriptions:
- Social Worker
- Care Coordinator
- Clinical Navigator
- Oncology Nurse Navigator
The Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute provides a 2-day Patient Navigation Program that provides training in navigation, particularly focusing on cancer but covering other topics as well.
