Nurse Holds 'Cutting Edge' Patient Navigator Position
April 21, 2009
By the Online Nursing Career Content Team – Find Top Nursing Programs Online!
Some hospitals have created a "patient navigator" position, a trained guide for patients through the often byzantine world of health care. It acknowledges that a serious diagnosis is shocking and difficult, and patients can feel overwhelmed with all they must learn to manage their disease and their treatment.
According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the Fairbanks Medical Hospital has recently added a patient navigator for cancer patients. Only a few hospitals have founded such a position, described by Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer McCartney as "cutting edge". Hannah Brice Smith, a cancer research nurse with 23 years of experience, is taking the job.
"Hannah will connect patients with the cancer staff, help with grief issues, pain issues and connect them with support people," McCartney told the News-Miner.
The goal is to provide the tailored, individualized care patients need, as well as help offer patients the latest treatment options, explain medications, arrange appointments and help with billing and insurance, according to the article.
Patient advocacy is a new, growing branch of the nursing profession, offering you the chance to help patients on an intimate level beyond merely treating their disease. If that kind of hands-on method of helping people appeals to you, perhaps it is time to look into a nursing degree.
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