Navigation Tools

This section provides valuable resources to assist nurse navigators and patient navigators in the management of patient care.

NEW The Guiding Light Between Shorelines: A Resource, Education, and Support Guide for Patients and Their Families Living With Advanced Cancers

This end-of-life planning guide provides resources, education, and support for patients with cancer and their caregivers. The guide includes videos, which are helpful for oncology nurse navigators when interacting with patients with advanced cancer when they are newly diagnosed and during their treatment processes.

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NEW Roadmap to Peer Support

A well-established peer support program can help patients feel better, adopt positive behaviors, and improve their health. This roadmap offers a step-by-step guide on how to build and maintain a peer support program.

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Cancer Survivorship E-Learning Series for Primary Care Providers

This new e-learning series from the George Washington University Cancer Center was created for primary care physicians but is also applicable to oncology navigators, as it offers guidance in preparing patients for transitioning to community providers after treatment, as well as short-term survivorship care.

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Patient Intake Assessment Tool

Assessing the immediate needs of the patient and family, while providing education and support, establishes a patient-centered approach and lays the groundwork for a strong bond between the patient, family, navigator, and the support services. This tool, which first appeared in ACCCBuzz, the blog of the Association of Community Cancer Centers, will help you gather and communicate essential information at the time of your initial visit with the patient.

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Health Literacy: From Assessment to Action

Low health literacy can affect anyone – even those in the healthcare industry. In this tool, ACCC, with input from AONN+, offers metrics that can help you assess and improve health literacy at your cancer program.

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What Does a Patient Navigator Do?

This article from the ACCC website describes resources that can help your cancer program keep pace with new patient navigation standards, raise the caliber of your patient navigation services, and protect your cancer program from potential legal liabilities.

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AONN+ Navigation Metrics Superheroes

These superheroes represent the 8 domains which encompass the AONN+ standardized navigation metrics and should help navigators to better understand the basis behind each domain and the skills necessary to provide quality patient care and financial stability for their organizations.

Educating the Health Care Team on the Roles and Responsibilities of Navigators and Support Staff

This tool is intended to educate their physicians, office staff, and other departments on the role of the navigator and oncology support staff. It can be customized to reflect your cancer program’s structure and its navigation and support staff responsibilities.

Author: Tricia Strusowski, MS, RN

ACCC's Health Literacy Gap Assessment Tool

To help cancer programs evaluate their current health literacy efforts and prioritize steps for improvement, ACCC developed a health literacy gap assessment tool. This tool is intended to help cancer programs advance their delivery of patient-centered care by integrating key attributes of a health-literate healthcare program. By completing the assessment tool, cancer programs can identify educational needs and pinpoint areas where targeted education could improve patient care.

The GW Cancer Center's Implementing the Commission on Cancer Standard 3.1 Patient Navigation Process: A Road Map for Comprehensive Cancer Control Professionals and Cancer Program Administrators

This document provides a road map for comprehensive cancer control professionals and cancer program administrators who are responsible for conducting the triennial Community Needs Assessment focusing on cancer disparities and barriers to care. The purpose of this document is to guide the Community Needs Assessment team in designing a patient navigation process that navigates cancer patients through their care and addresses barriers facing patients, caregivers, and communities in the cancer program's catchment area.

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Navigation Orientation Checklist and Annual Competencies

Navigators upon hire have varied backgrounds and require an orientation and annual review of national guidelines/standards, core competencies, reports/metrics, just to name a few. These documents contain all the key elements that need to be included in a navigator’s orientation and annual competencies.

Navigation Tracking Sheet for Weekly Rounds

These tracking sheets allow you to record patients’ appointments, prescriptions, lab work, and identify if other important needs have been addressed.

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GW Cancer Center’s Executive Training on Navigation and Survivorship

The George Washington University (GW) Cancer Center’s Executive Training on Navigation and Survivorship is a no-cost, innovative program that teaches the nuts and bolts of navigation and survivorship program development and implementation. The program walks participants through interactive presentations, written content that summarizes the latest research and best practices, case studies and customizable activities to create a program plan.

GW Cancer Center’s Oncology Patient Navigator Training: The Fundamentals

Through a collaborative process, the George Washington University (GW) Cancer Center developed the first-ever consensus-based competencies for oncology patient navigators without a clinical license. This no-cost, competency-based training uses interactive web-based presentations to discuss evidence-based information and case studies to prepare patient navigators to effectively address barriers to care for cancer patients and survivors.

Cancer Care Coordination Questionnaire for Patients

This questionnaire can be used to survey your patients’ experience over the past 3 months of acute oncology treatment. It can help identify the strengths and gaps in patients’ care.

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Provider Education on Patient Navigation

The AONN+ Navigation Metrics Subcommittee created a Provider Educational Fact Sheet to help educate physicians and their office staff on the role of the navigator.

Authors: Nicole Messier, BSN, RN, OCN; Beth High, MSN, OCN, CBCN, CN-BN; Linda Burhansstipanov, MSPH, DrPH; Tricia Strusowski, MS, RN

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