Social Workers Navigating Healthcare For Patients
In the world of cancer, most people are familiar with the term “navigators.”
Historically the role of a “patient navigator” has been held by a registered nurse. I previously worked at a facility that was part of the National Cancer Institutes Community Cancer Centers Program (NCI-NCCCP). One of the focuses was on the role of navigator.
Some of the crucial items that navigators focused on were but not limited to the following:
- Patient education on diagnosis and treatment
- Connecting with local resources for financial assistance
- Coordinating screening and follow up appointments
- Quick referral for resolution
- Collaboration with multidisciplinary & clinical trial teams
- Single point of contact for patient to connect with, at times in culturally sensitive environments, & obtain support
Most of the work and focus is summed up in the navigator template.
When I developed a navigator program I began with a “job mapping” exercise. The exercise allowed me to understand all of the actions that need to be performed by a person in this role. (HBR article on job mapping)
The conclusion I made was that a nurse may not necessarily be “right” person for the navigator role. Not because a nurse isn’t qualified to do the work, but because a nurse could be utilized to provide care. In fact, in most organizations I have worked for and with, most nurse navigators become the “band-aid” for broken care processes.
Instead, I looked to other healthcare resources and focused on social workers. There is a 2011 publication from the National Association of Social Workers entitled Social Workers in Hospitals & Medical Centers that gives a great overview on the scope of work for most social workers.
Personally, I had a colleague that I would leverage anytime I needed to connect a patient with a community resource, financial assistance, care planning, or even to vent.
As I began to think through the needs of a patient and their family members after a diagnosis of cancer, it became very clear: a social worker may be the key to navigating the world of a cancer diagnosis.
Social workers are connected to the community. The are well versed in the resources available. They are used to fighting on behalf of the patient. They understand, can screen, and evaluate the psycho and social well being of a patient and their family members. Social workers are used to traversing people between clinics and hospitals and managing from outpatient to inpatient stays. Social workers are great collaborators and facilitators. They tend to be empathetic and understand all of the stakeholders needs, but fight on the behalf of their patients.
Social workers are good at needs assessments.
Social workers are great at being able to pull together disparate information. They are used to working in a multidisciplinary team to get all of the information, and then share that information with the patient and family on a timely basis. Social workers also take the time to deliver the same message, in different ways, over several touches to ensure the message and questions are covered.
I agree with Susannah that front desk workers are well connected and can definitely impact how we share health information with patients and family members.
I also believe from my own experience and success that we need to harness the power of social workers too.
As always you can email me at cancergeek@gmail.com or follow me on twitter @cancergeek.
