What Is a Nurse Navigator? (video)
The role of the oncology nurse navigator at Scripps MD Anderson
The role of the oncology nurse navigator at Scripps MD Anderson
Beverly Mangerich, RN, a nurse navigator at Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center, explains the role of the oncology nurse navigator in helping cancer patients make appointments and educating them about their cancer treatment.
Video transcript
What is a nurse navigator?
A nurse navigator enters a patient's life at the time of diagnosis. There's a lot of appointments to be made at that time. There's a lot of questions about the diagnosis, a lot of decisions that have to be made. A nurse navigator walks with that patient through that time, helping them make appointments and then educates them on the disease and what kind of treatments they can expect.
What is the role of the nurse navigator?
It's so important to have a nurse navigator for the patient to feel comfortable, to feel like they have a phone number that they can call. The navigator's role is to look at the whole patient. The whole patient is not just their disease. It's their life and so in order to navigate them you have to include all of that.
What is patient-centered care?
Our partnership with MD Anderson has helped us look at the patient experience. We started having clinics where a patient sees all three doctors in one day and doesn't have to come back for three separate visits. This is very beneficial to the patients and they love it. It also makes us look at best practice and implement all the best practices that are out there.
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