Nurse Navigator, Oncology

Nurse Navigator, Oncology

Location: Dallas TX, Hybrid (3 days in-office, 2 days from home)

Reports To: Director of Case Management

Professional RN with oncology-specific clinical knowledge who offers individualized assistance to patients, families, and caregivers to help overcome healthcare system barriers. Using the nursing process, an ONN provides education and resources to facilitate and support informed decision making, timely access to quality health and psychosocial care throughout all phases of the cancer journey. The ONN has the skills and knowledge to coordinate quality, patient-centered care through effective communication with the interprofessional cancer care team and more important who are committed and passionate about changing the way cancer patients and their caregivers experience cancer care.

Responsibilities:

• Guiding and supporting patients/families throughout the cancer care and survivorship experience.
• Oversees, directs, and provides holistic, culturally competent, and evidence-based nursing care. 
• Monitors patient outcomes and participates in quality improvement projects. 
• Contributes to and collaborates with healthcare team members to positively impact patient outcomes and patient experiences. 
• Assists patients or their caregivers with developing scope of services with clearly stated goals and objectives.
• Providing education and support to the patient and family
• Identifying special needs of the patient and delegating to appropriate support staff
• Ensuring understanding of treatment options available
• Facilitating patient care plan recommended by physician
• Connecting patient and family with community resources
• Coordinating multidisciplinary care from time of diagnosis throughout treatment
• Improving timeliness of appointments

Duties and expectations:

• Create trusting relationships and addressing patients’ communication and health literacy needs at all phases of therapy and follow up.
• Assess and address barriers to care.
• Meeting with patient and caregivers to review their treatment goals, expectation, and concerns.
• Provide education, resources, and referrals to local and national resources.
• Provides emotional support, especially during difficult decision-making periods.
• Demonstrates the knowledge, skill, and coordination to provide nursing care and guidance to the cancer patient from screening to survivorship.
• Systematically and continually performs the functions of assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating the care according to the nursing process.
• Facilitate shared decision making: Shared decision making involves ensuring that patients are fully informed of risks and benefits of treatment options and that their values and preferences are integrated into treatment decisions.
• Provide education and information to the patient and family, helping to make the care seamless, continuous and comprehensive. Initiates and documents patient teaching including family and significant others based on assessment of needs.
• Responds to patient request for information regarding the disease process, expected side effects of treatment and community resources. Responds to patient request for information regarding the disease process, expected side effects of treatment and community resources. Uses appropriate patient Education documentation modality.
• Helping patient and families understand their medical conditions and treatment options.
• Assisting patients with general healthcare coordination across multiple providers and facilities.
• Coordinating care by assisting with appointments, including transitioning care outside of their state or other facilities.
• Promote advance care planning: The ONN can promote advance care planning by encouraging patients to talk about their treatment wishes and overall goals of care. The ONN can help patients formulate questions to discuss with their healthcare providers.
• Support palliative care: The ONN can support patients’ use of palliative care services by assessing for late and long-term side effects and other physical barriers to patients’ quality of life. The ONN can also be instrumental in helping patients understand the difference between palliative care and hospice.
• Gathering and reviewing medical information necessary for quality metrics and improvement of program.
• Inform to manager any concern regarding a patient treatment or process.
• Functions in an organized and time conscious manner. Partners with patients, families and community resources to provide well-coordinated, timely, compassionate, exemplary, interdisciplinary care.
• Communicates with all members of the healthcare team, as appropriate about patient/family needs and concerns.

Qualifications 

• Graduated from accredited nursing school.
• Oncology Certified Nurse (OCN), or other relevant Oncology Certification- preferred
• Case Management Certification (CMCC)- preferred
• Current RN or NP license in state of Texas
• Overall computer literacy with proficiency in Windows-based software and Microsoft Office.
• Bachelor's degree in Nursing is preferred. 
• Experience ONN should have a minimum of 5 years of oncology/navigation work.
• Demonstrates ongoing professional development by continual learning activities