Navigation & Survivorship News
The next several months are the peak time of year when people will be exposed to the sun. As such, navigators can help get the word out about prevention efforts against this potentially deadly form of skin cancer.
Navigators have a critical role in highlighting system bottlenecks and health care inefficiencies. At the GW Cancer Center, largely due to patient navigators speaking up, a policy advocacy effort was prioritized to improve access to chemotherapy for Medicaid patients.
We’ve all been there. The number of patients you are expected to navigate keeps increasing without more resources being provided to help you do it well. Simply telling your supervisor that you can’t keep up won’t cut it; nor will saying you need more help. Instead, measure what you are doing by developing an acuity scale for the patient populations you navigate.
A special thank you to the thoracic nurse navigators who came forward to create the thoracic certification examination. It is a sign of professional commitment and growth to volunteer for a task that will help one review their profession as well as learn something new such as test question development.
One aspect navigators should consider learning is how to communicate effectively with patients, families, and the public to build trusting relationships across a broad range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
All too often cancer centers decide to hire either oncology nurse navigators or hire patient navigators. What would be best for the center and patients is a blending of both professionals. This model of having a nurse and a lay patient navigator can work very well--as long as each of these navigators function within their scope of training, skills, credentialing, and practice requirements.
Patient navigators are critical in getting patients into guideline-adherent colorectal cancer screening.
It is important for navigators to take a holistic view of their patients knowing their medical history and even other variables that could affect their health, such as their sexual orientation. You may ask why sexual orientation is important, and the reasoning is that the LGBTQ is at greater risk for certain cancers. For example, did you know that lesbian and bisexual women have a greater risk for more aggressive breast cancer? Or, did you know gay men have a higher risk for anal cancer?
As you may know, we launched last year the officially certification exam for general oncology nurse navigators. And through AONN+'s partnership with the George Washington Cancer Center, the patient navigation exam was also launched at the same time. We are about to conduct the beta test for a thoracic navigation certification.
Whether your manager meets with you monthly, semi-annually, or annually to discuss your performance evaluation, you need to take it upon yourself to decide what your performance and professional goals should be beforehand.
