Member's Memo

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.

This week, April 10-14, is National Tumor Registrars Week or National Cancer Registrars Week. A huge thank you and acknowledgement of all the work of cancer registrars that affect patient care and ways they help support the objectives of nurse navigation! Here's a major shout out to all our friends in this department!

Most navigators will find transportation to be a major barrier to care no matter where they practice. The rural areas provide a distance challenge, the urban areas face missed bus connections and the suburban falls between the two. It is not surprising that 4 million patients miss appointments just because they don't have a ride each year.

Many navigators have enjoyed the increased communication that electronic health records have delivered over the recent years. Prior to going live with our electronic medical record (EMR), our navigators had a read-only view and this encouraged consistent teaching along the care continuum as patients transitioned across the healthcare settings.

The Patient Navigation Framework that delineated the roles of various navigators was used in developing competency statements for patient navigators. This standardized the oncology patient navigator role and led to training on the competencies as well as certification.

A recent writing adventure revealed how proud each one of you should be as patient navigation has evolved over the last decade as a new health care delivery support strategy. And you have been a part of it by answering surveys, writing articles about evidence based practice, attending conferences, participating on project teams, sharing best practices as well as challenging leaders for more information on navigation.

One of the dominant themes in oncology healthcare is how to address costs, especially as more diagnostic tests and cancer therapies emerge. The new Oncology Care Model is trying to address this issue by transitioning from the traditional fee for service to a value-based care model.

Financial support for continuing education has been a challenge as healthcare systems have trimmed budgets in recent years. We realized this ongoing financial challenge for navigators and hoped the free one-year AONN+ membership along with waiving the navigation certification fee were enough financial incentives to attend the AONN+ annual conference.

Thank you navigators for creating an exciting and energetic time at the seventh annual Academy of Oncology & Patient Navigators (AONN+) conference.

How reliable is the health information that bombards you in emails and snail mail daily? Is it trustworthy?  Do you find yourself reading and have a reactive thought like, “Really? Can this be true?”