Navigation

This issue of JONS also comprises a wealth of learning guides dedicated to providing patient navigators with information about the core competencies of navigation.

A report on the evolution of patient navigation to cover consensus-based core competencies.

Patient navigation is a patient-centered healthcare delivery method that assists patients in overcoming barriers to oncology care throughout the cancer care continuum.

As new trends emerge in the management of patients with cancer, an increasingly complex care delivery system continues to evolve. It is important to realize that the number of treatment options available to patients may be overwhelming to them.

Compared with other healthcare professions, patient navigation is still a relatively new discipline. Thus, significant confusion remains regarding the role, scope of practice, and ideal training and credentials for patient navigators. The George Washington University Cancer Institute has developed Core Competencies for Oncology Patient Navigators and recently released a competency-based online training program that is freely available to patient navigators.

Patients in rural settings often experience geographic and financial barriers in their transition to oncology survivorship care. Using telemedicine can improve patients’ access to care and their outcomes, and survivorship clinics should be specifically evaluated for rural populations.

This study evaluated the impact of the 3-year NCCCP pilot program.

The role of the nurse navigator in helping patients through the trajectory of their journey from diagnosis to treatment to survivorship has evolved, and in many settings, the nurse navigator has become a key component of a multidisciplinary approach to cancer care.

At the 2015 Oncology Nursing Society meeting, Harold P. Freeman, MD, (pictured), Founder and President of Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute, described the establishment of the first patient navigation institute for patients with cancer in the United States.

“ONS recognized that navigation services can be delegated to trained nonprofessionals and/or volunteers, and should be supervised by nurses and social workers. Ongoing training will be needed for these volunteers. They need to learn how to talk to people with cancer,” said Jean Sellers, RN, MSN, Administrative Clinical Director, University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, at the 2015 Oncology Nursing Society meeting.