Cancer is a complex and often overwhelming disease, and navigating its treatment and care can be a daunting task for patients and their loved ones. This is where navigators come in – trained professionals who provide guidance and support throughout a patient’s cancer journey.
There is no universally agreed definition of term navigator. Navigators are typically registered nurses, social workers, or other healthcare professionals who specialize in cancer care. They work closely with patients and their families, helping them understand their diagnosis, treatment options, and the various resources available to them.
Understanding the System
When a patient is diagnosed with cancer, they are plunged into a world filled with medical terminologies, treatment options, and unfamiliar procedures. This, coupled with the emotional distress of the diagnosis, can be overwhelming. Patient Navigators simplify the process by breaking down complex medical jargon, explaining treatment options, and outlining procedures. They act as interpreters, making sense of medical speak and helping patients comprehend their situation and options.
Facilitating Communication
A significant part of a Navigator’s role involves fostering communication. They create a conduit between the patient and their healthcare providers, ensuring the patient’s voice is heard and their concerns addressed. Navigators assist in scheduling appointments, provide reminders, and act as advocates during consultations, thereby facilitating improved doctor-patient relationships.
Providing Emotional Support
Dealing with cancer is emotionally challenging. Navigators provide much-needed emotional support to patients, addressing fears, concerns, and anxieties. They help manage the psychological impact of the disease, offering counselling or referring patients to mental health professionals when needed.
Addressing Socioeconomic Barriers
Cancer treatment often brings about a significant financial burden. Navigators understand this and assist patients in exploring various resources, such as financial aid, transportation, and housing, ensuring patients can access their treatment without added stress.
Improving Outcomes
Research shows that the presence of a Navigator can improve cancer outcomes. By facilitating timely screenings, diagnosis, and treatment, they enhance patient adherence to care plans, thereby increasing survival rates. They also contribute to reducing disparities in cancer care, providing equal support to all patients irrespective of their socioeconomic status.
Important domains of patient navigation include:
- Care coodination (reminders to patients and and/or providers, arranging appointments and referrals to follow-up services and support, assisting transitions across settings and providers, monitoring and/or following up with patients).
- Education (including one-on-one or group education, clarifying doubts/providing explanations, providing take-home learning materials.
- Problem solving with individuals (e.g., physical, psychological, and social issues)
- Counselling (e.g., psychosocial, medical, or barriers counselling, motivational interviewing)
- Caregiver support or family counselling
- Symptom management
- Transportation services and assistance
- Assisting in obtaining medications
- Financial assistance –
- Subsidizing costs for transportation
- Assisting in completing paperwork and/or making financial applications
- Reducing out-of-pocket costs using vouchers and reimbursements
Summary of published data
In June 2023, Chan et al publisehd an overview of systematic reviews and emerging literature of patient navigation across the cancer continuum, highlighting patient navigation as effective for improving uptake of cancer screening programs for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer as well as shortening time frames from screening to diagnosis and from diagnosis to treatment initiation. The authors also highlighted some emerging evidence suggesting that patient navigation has positive effects on patients’ quality of life, satisfaction with care in the survivorship phase, and hospital use from active treatment to survivorship. https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/caac.21788#
Future of Cancer Patient Navigation
The field of patient navigation is evolving rapidly. As personalized medicine becomes the norm in cancer care, the role of the Navigator will expand, offering more individualized support to patients. This, coupled with advancements in digital health technology, will create opportunities for remote navigation services, making cancer care more accessible.
Lifestyle choices influence cancer risk. https://completeremission.com/the-link-between-lifestyle-and-cancer-by-wish-dhillon-md/ Navigators communicate often with patients and their families, and can play a pivotal role in encouraging adoption of healthy lifestyle choices aimed at reducing cancer risks .
Conclusion
Cancer Patient Navigators are an invaluable part of the healthcare system. They offer a personal touch to the often impersonal world of medicine. By guiding patients through the complex terrain of cancer care, they not only alleviate the burden of navigating the healthcare system but also provide emotional support and advocacy. In doing so, they play a pivotal role in enhancing the delivery and effectiveness of cancer care. The Navigator can become a beacon of hope guiding the patient through the tumultuous journey of cancer treatment.
Reference:
Chan RJ, Milch VE, Crawford-Williams F, Agbejule OA, Joseph R, Johal J, Dick N, Wallen MP, Ratcliffe J, Agarwal A, Nekhlyudov L, Tieu M, Al-Momani M, Turnbull S, Sathiaraj R, Keefe D, Hart NH. Patient navigation across the cancer care continuum: An overview of systematic reviews and emerging literature. CA Cancer J Clin. 2023 Jun 26. doi: 10.3322/caac.21788. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37358040.
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