Training of community health workers to deliver cancer patient navigation to rural African American seniors

Training in Patient Navigation: A Review of the Research Literature

Despite the proliferation of patient navigation programs designed to increase timely receipt of health care, little is known about the content and delivery of patient navigation training, or best practices in this arena. The current study begins to address these gaps in understanding, as it is the first study to comprehensively review descriptions of patient navigation training in the peer-reviewed research literature. Seventy-five patient navigation efficacy studies published since 1995, identified through PubMed and by the authors, were included in this narrative review. Fifty-nine of the included studies (79%) mentioned patient navigation training, and 55 of these studies additionally provided a description of training. Most studies did not thoroughly document patient navigation training practices. Additionally, several topics integral to the role of patient navigators, as well as components of training central to successful adult learning, were not commonly described in the research literature. Descriptions of training also varied widely across studies in terms of duration, location, format, learning strategies employed, occupation of trainer, and content. These findings demonstrate the need for established standards of navigator training as well as for future research on the optimal delivery and content of patient navigation training.

Effectiveness of an Intervention for Adherence to Follow-up Recommendations for Abnormal Pap Tests in Appalachian Kentucky

OBJECTIVE

In collaboration with rural county health departments (CHDs), we developed a patient navigation intervention to increase adherence to follow-up recommendations for women with abnormal Pap tests.

METHODS

Local women were recruited, trained and placed in CHDs. Navigation was tailored to the follow-up care recommended. Effectiveness was evaluated in a quasi-experimental trial that included 13 intervention CHDs and 13 comparison group CHDs. Participants were enrolled from September 2008 through July 2010.

RESULTS

A total of 478 participants were enrolled. The proportion that received recommended follow-up care was greater in the intervention CHDs (91.6%) than in the comparison group CHDs (80.8%) (p = .01).

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that development of policy to promote navigation with rural health care delivery systems has great potential to improve patient outcomes.