Marketing campaigns that use navigation as a lure: I’ve heard ads on the radio and even seen a few on TV that are using nurse navigators as their lure to bring new cancer patients to their cancer center.
Patient navigation programs have evolved over the past 2 decades as oncology care has become a complex network of prevention, early detection, genomic and proteomic treatment pathways, and survivorship promotion.
This is a very important subject that needs to be discussed more often. Of all of the tasks of a navigator, patient advocacy must always be part of our process.
As Spring teases us with warmer weather, the intention to move more is a little easier after a long day at work! Navigators have shown they are interested in keeping their patient on the move. The abstracts from 2014 reflect this theme.
If you are working as a navigator and haven’t begun to capture data that accurately depicts what you do, how you do it, and why it is important, then you are placing yourself at risk for a lot of questions when it is time for your performance review (or for when next year’s fiscal budget is being determined).
Professional development should be a major focus for patient navigators. Setting learning and improvement goals and participating in skill development and networking activities can address one’s gaps in knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities.
