Dear Navigators, Social Workers, Administrators, and Clinical Staff,
The field of oncology navigation is an integral part of a comprehensive oncology program to ensure the identification and effective removal of barriers to care, timely patient/family caregiver education, promotion of shared decision-making, patient advocacy, needed financial resources, and psychosocial support. And these are just a few of the functions navigators perform today. It has been shown time and again that navigation programs can impact and improve clinical outcomes, return on investment, as well as patient experience. Navigators require unique training to effectively execute their jobs, and we at the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) are proud to offer 3 unique certification exams that support navigators in their role.
The Oncology Nurse Navigator–Certified Generalist (ONN-CG) and the Oncology Patient Navigator–Certified Generalist (OPN-CG) certifications ensure that clinical nurse and patient navigators have the knowledge to competently demonstrate effective navigation services across the cancer care continuum within their scope of practice. The Oncology Nurse Navigator–Certified Generalist Thoracic (ONN-CG[T]) is specific to the expected competencies of those working in thoracic oncology.
Navigators, obtaining your certification provides you with a credential showing your mastery of evidence-based best practices in your unique role on the cancer care team. The credential helps to ensure consistent delivery of optimized patient care across the care continuum and furthers career development of navigators.
I would like to personally encourage you to advance your career and further the cause of navigation by applying to sit for one of these exams offered twice yearly at the AONN+ conferences. You can learn more on the AONN+ website—aonnonline.org—or by e-mailing our certification team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. And know that I will be rooting you on from the sidelines, hoping you do well on your exams. I take pride in having
“ONN-CG” as part of my own credentials and know that you too will take pride in having whatever credentials you are seeking from certification through us.
Sincerely,
Lillie D. Shockney, RN, BS, MAS, ONN-CG
Editor-in-Chief, JONS
University Distinguished Service Professor of Breast Cancer; Professor of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Co-Developer of Work Stride: Managing Cancer at Work, Johns Hopkins Healthcare Solutions; Program Director and Co-Founder of AONN+.
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