Rozina Aziz A nurse navigator works in tandem with a patient’s doctor to identify issues quickly and provide them with personalized solutions catered to just to their needs. The main goal of a nurse navigator is to guide the patient through any medical confusion or lack of understanding they may have while guiding them on their journey toward better health.
Navigators provide emotional support, which can help patients cope with their diagnoses and reduce anxiety levels.
What is a Nurse Navigator?
In the medical field, “Nurse Navigator” or “Patient Navigator” are terms that refer to services, imaging diagnoses, and cancer treatments. In a nutshell, a patient or nurse navigator acts as an advocate throughout the entire care process, beginning with the initial consultation and continuing through the final recovery phase.
Oncology Nurse Navigator is the primary field where you will find nurse navigators who assist patients with understanding their cancer diagnosis and developing a personalized care plan. Maxine will be in touch with our patients as soon as possible, calling them to review pre-biopsy instructions and field any questions they may have.
She also finds and removes the obstacles that prevent patients from receiving treatments promptly. Maxine’s job as a navigator includes evaluating a patient’s physical, mental, spiritual, clinical, economic, and other requirements.
She will monitor and report on outcome indicators while working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team to increase patients’ access to comprehensive care. She will oversee the patient’s testing, procedures, appointments, and treatment, as well as develop and implement a plan for post-treatment care.
Apart from guiding patients to the appropriate clinical trials and supportive services, Maxine takes part in multi-disciplinary assessments and tumor assemblies. As an expert in oncology patient care, she assists patients and families by connecting them to community resources and other helpful services. She also provides education to strengthen their understanding.
What are the responsibilities of a nurse navigator?
Nurses who specialize in certain types of care (e.g., pediatric) may be responsible for different tasks than nurses who specialize in others (e.g., adult). However, most practitioners in this area act as advocates for their patients, simplifying complex medical information into terms everyone can comprehend.
In providing quality care, nurse navigators may perform the following duties:
Duties and Responsibilities
- Provide healthcare resources like consultations, testing, and treatment alternatives
- Educate patients on their diseases, treatments, side effects, and prescriptions
- Respond to inquiries and act as a liaison between patients and doctors.
- Help patients with their healthcare administration concerns, such as where to live, how to get about, how much medicine costs, and how to pay for it
- Direct individuals in need to useful resources, like social workers.
- To this end, all relevant healthcare records and data must be easily accessible.
- The ability to acquire, evaluate, and organize high-quality healthcare services for their entire establishment
- Assist in arranging for timely procedures, efficient treatment, and accurate diagnosis
- A career as a nurse navigator may be right for you if you possess or can cultivate the following skills and qualities:
- Caring for patients in this setting includes providing wound care, caring for ostomy areas, accessing port/PICC lines, offering supportive measures, administering chemotherapy, blood components, fluid and electrolyte replacements, and other suggested oncology treatments.
- Evaluate the health of new and established patients and study participants, and determine how best to allocate resources to meet their needs.
- Directs the day-to-day procedures of the healthcare services provided to patients who have been given navigational assistance.
- In partnership with physicians and the clinical research office, enable, oversee, and guarantee patient entry into Clinical Trials.
- Act as the primary liaison between patients and the medical, nursing, auxiliary, and clinical research coordinators.
- Track down possible participants in Clinical Trials and work with the study coordinator to get their informed permission.
- Serves as a resource for students, care professionals, patients, and the general public; teaches patients and their loved ones about their conditions.
- Patient information on healthcare access, medical history, prescriptions, previous treatments, etc., must be gathered and reported.
- Observe the status of orders until they are finished and then follow up. Keep an eye on how well your patients are following your treatment strategy.
- Help patients get the referrals they need and coordinate their care.
- Possibility of participating in tumor boards, referring patients for review, and following up on board recommendations.
- Possible duties include assisting with new hire onboarding, training, and performance reviews.
- Adheres to the department’s set policies, procedures, and goals, as well as any applicable safety, environmental, or infection control regulations.
- Working with medical staff, patient care personnel, and healthcare administrators, I contribute to creating and delivering patient and employee education.
- Conceives of or helps to develop resources for spreading health awareness.
- Carries out other related tasks as needed within the role context.
Cultural Openness
With many patients to care for, a nurse navigator may be curious about new ways of life. Although the nurse navigator’s cultural background may differ from that of the patient, they try to understand the patient’s background and beliefs to ensure that the patient is as at ease as possible during the healthcare process. This can be achieved by candid communication with patients, consultations, and investigation.
Respect for the privacy of each patient
Most nurses in various clinical contexts understand the significance of keeping patient information private. However, nurse navigators may need heightened vigilance due to frequent encounters with personnel from many fields.
Suppose you’re discussing patient information with a social worker or a consultant from a field unrelated to medicine, for instance. In that case, you should take extra precautions to protect the confidentiality of your patients.
Respect for Others
Respect for patients and their families may feel like second nature in the healthcare industry, but the nurse navigator role demands extra effort to demonstrate compassion and tolerance.
Nurse navigators can model respect for others through reasonable goals and limits. Nurse navigators, for instance, may refrain from making value judgments about their patients’ care or smoking status. Their only concern is getting the patient through the emergency.
Integrity in communication
Nurse navigators, by definition, spend much of their day talking to people from all walks of life and all levels of education. Working well with others is essential to ensure quality treatment is provided to patients.
They can better serve their patients’ requirements by maintaining steady, timely, and honest communication lines.
Commitment to Advocacy
A nurse navigator is responsible for communicating with several patients and assisting them with the various procedures of their care. Helping patients understand their medical conditions and getting them into good care by providing correct interpretations of medical facts.
Many nurse navigators act as advocates for their patients, guiding them to the best possible consultations, diagnoses, treatments, and aftercare services from among the many available in the healthcare system.
Capacity to perform multiple tasks at once
When caring for their patients, nurse navigators may take on care of tasks. The ability to juggle multiple responsibilities or cases effectively is useful in this position.
Since each patient presents unique challenges and rewards, you may also like this profession’s constant variation.
In conclusion
Nurse Navigators provide a valuable service to patients by helping them navigate the healthcare system. They are responsible for communicating with patients, advocating for them, and performing multiple tasks at once. By providing these services, Nurse Navigators help ensure that patients receive the best possible care and have a positive experience with their healthcare journey.
FAQ’s
What benefits do Nurse Navigators provide to patients?
Nurse Navigators provide several key benefits to patients including improved access to care, better quality of care, improved communication between providers, coordination of services across different organizations and increased satisfaction levels when it comes to patient experience.
What roles do Nurse Navigators have in hospitals?
In hospitals, Nurse Navigators play an important role in many areas including management of chronic conditions, smooth transitions from one level of care to another (such as hospital discharge), coordination of diagnostics testing & referrals for specialty services or second opinions, identification & implementation of evidence based practice protocols relevant to their specialty area(s), providing education & support around advanced directives & end-of-life decisions, guidance on strategies for reducing readmissions & improving the overall quality of healthcare delivery within the hospital setting. In addition they may assist with developing new initiatives or researching best practices related to their specialty area(s).
