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Patient Navigation

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Oncologic Emergency Medicine

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Abstract

The growing interest in patient navigation has caused a growth in published health literature that expounds on its definition and those who serve as patient navigators. Patient navigation provides a variety of services for cancer patients who may be culturally differential, uninsured, and impoverished. The role and responsibilities of the patient navigator vary, but the overall focus is on identifying and assisting with barriers that cancer patients are confronted with to cancer education and treatment.

Patient navigators are also identified by the following titles:

  • Case managers.

  • Comadres.

  • Community health aids.

  • Community health workers.

  • Lay health workers.

  • Nurses.

  • Promotoras.

  • Social workers.

The titles above indicate that patient navigators are often members of the community that they serve and that some cancer treatment programs may employ navigators who are ethnically concordant to the target population. It is also important to note that patient navigators are more flexible in problem solving to help a patient overcome barriers to care as opposed to the provision of a predefined set of services.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Timethia Bonner DPM, PhD & Ledric D. Sherman BS, MA, PhD

  2. Department of Surgery-Division of Surgical Oncology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Thelma C. Hurd MD

  3. College of Nursing, Prairie View A&M University College of Nursing, Houston, TX, USA

    Lovell Allan Jones BS, MS PhD

Authors
  1. Timethia Bonner DPM, PhD
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  2. Ledric D. Sherman BS, MA, PhD
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  3. Thelma C. Hurd MD
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  4. Lovell Allan Jones BS, MS PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lovell Allan Jones BS, MS PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Houston, Texas, USA

    Knox H. Todd

  2. Portland, Oregon, USA

    Charles R. Thomas, Jr.

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Bonner, T., Sherman, L.D., Hurd, T.C., Jones, L.A. (2016). Patient Navigation. In: Todd, K., Thomas, Jr., C. (eds) Oncologic Emergency Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26387-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26387-8_4

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