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What is a Patient Navigator?
A navigator works with and advocates for the elderly and their family during times of illness, identify problems, research options, implement solutions and share the journey.
A patient navigator works as a partner in the medical journey and life of a client. A navigator helps patients find their way through a daunting, complicated and expensive medical system. Add diminished hearing, failing eyesight and possible cognitive decline and the journey for the elderly becomes even more daunting. Every newly diagnosed patient suffers from overwhelming information overload. A patient navigator’s job is to provide up-to-date, reliable information to the patient and family so that with the medical team, they feel confident about his or her treatment decisions. A navigator does not give medical advice, but works with the medical team to make that advice understandable to the patient. They empower patients with important self-advocacy and research skills.
Life balance is a key goal for anyone undergoing major medical treatment. The goal is comprehensive management of the patient’s illness, treatment, and family life. Many health care professionals are responsible for elements of the patient’s care. But when a patient navigator becomes involved, he/she can tie the pieces together while keeping the moving parts in focus and on the same page. Many long distance elder caregivers find working with a navigator is the best option for recieving accurate medical information when a parent is hospitalized. The patient navigator becomes the eyes and ears for the absent family.
.Every patient is unique. By its nature, patient navigation is an intensely personal process. A patient navigator must assess, prioritize and address each need. As patients move through the journey of their illness, the navigator responds to changes, adjusts problem-solving efforts, and maintains close communication with the family. Beyond solving problems and helping with life care issues, a navigator often provides emotional support for the client’s roller-coaster schedule of treatments, appointments, successes and set-backs.
Navigation
• Coordinate care, treatment and communication among your medical team
• Provide detailed insurance claims assistance
• Track medical paperwork to ensure accuracy with health insurance claims
• Tackle a hospital bureaucracy and oversee the care you are given
• Identify and access appropriate social services
• Mobilize the resources your caregivers need to support your treatment and recovery
• Negotiate with an employer, health care provider or school to get the assistance you need
• Develop options for complementary and integrative care
Advocacy
• Delegate stressful and time-consuming administrative tasks to your navigator
• Eliminate the anxiety of deciphering complicated health and elder care delivery systems
• Gain confidence in your personal advocacy skills
• Learn to communicate effectively with your medical team
Research/Education
• Jump start your medical education
• Master the learning curve quickly and fully
• Focus on only the most accurate, current and relevant information
• Learn to speak the language of your disease
• Organize your records and paperwork
Patient navigation/advocacy is a new and emerging field (and according toMarty Nemko, Contributing Columnist, Kiplinger.com, is listed #11 on a list of 13 for the top jobs in the coming decade.) It has come about because of the complexity, inefficiency and cost of the current American health care system. A
An increasing number of hospitals in the U.S. and Canada employ navigators to help patients manage their hospital stays. Those hospitals usually require nursing degrees and frequently work with breast cancer patients (because there is funding available from private foundations such as Susan G. Komen).
Patient Navigation was founded by Harold P. Freeman, M.D. in 1990, when he initiated and developed the first Patient Navigation program in Harlem to reduce disparities in access to diagnosis and treatment of cancer, particularly among poor and uninsured people. In 2007, as a direct result of a $2.5M grant received from the Armgen Foundation, the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention established The Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute (HPFPNI) to support Patient Navigation training to individuals associated with organizations. The Institute opened its doors to address the growth in Patient Navigation programs, but also to offer standards and best practices that are customizable to meet each program's needs.
Most patient navigators come to the profession through their own personal experiences dealing with the health care system (whether as a patient, caregiver, nurse, social worker, etc.)
Comments
Thank you for an important article that explains to families how health advocacy professionals can help them navigate the complexities of a serious illness and to find the care and resources they need. No one should feel cast out into our medical system without a lifeline. Elisabeth Russell, President, Patient Navigator LLC www.patientnavigator.com
Very interesting! Sounds similar, but perhaps even more specialized, than patient coordinators? I've worked with those before and they were a tremendous help and sounds like these would be as well. :)
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