Navigation & Survivorship News
Patient navigation is a dynamic profession, and cancer care is an ever-evolving field. It is imperative that navigators invest in ongoing learning activities to enhance their knowledge and skill set.
I hope that you all receive the survey being conducted by the George Washington Institute (GWI; our own Mandi Pratt-Chapman who serves on our Leadership Council).
At a recent conference, I heard a new term that might interest navigators: food insecurity. The US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service defines food insecurity as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.”
Patient navigators have a unique role in working to reduce health disparities and promote health equity in underserved communities.
The field of navigation is growing fast. Some groups are directly related to the Commission on Cancer’s new standards tied to navigation.
The prevalence of herbal medication use among cancer patients is greater than 35% in the United States. A lot has been published discussing the interaction between herbal products and conventional medications in oncology care.
Patient navigation is still a fairly new profession and, as such, navigators should tap into their expertise and experience to educate others about their role.
When treatment ends, commonly cancer patients will be told by their treating oncologist, “Go find your new normal now” or “Start adjusting to your new normal.” Neither sounds very appealing.
I hope each member is off to a Happy New Year for 2016! The new year is often a time of reflection as well as a visualization of things to come. As navigators, the characteristics of proactivity, as well as flexibility, are vital to our job as well as an asset for patient interaction. As we look forward to the East Coast Regional Conference in May, a topic of interest and discussion will be palliative care.
Patient navigators often serve as advocates with and on behalf of patients. A cancer diagnosis is a new experience for patients—one that thrusts them into a world of unknown terminology, overwhelming treatments and procedures, and complex systems.
