title: A national patient navigator training program.
abstract: Patient Navigation is an intervention aimed at addressing cancer health disparities by eliminating barriers to diagnosis, treatment, and services. Three major patient navigation (PN) programs (The National Cancer Institute, The American Cancer Society &The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) are underway to address the needs of medically underserved cancer patients. There has not been national training with a defined curriculum for patient navigators (PNs). Curriculum for training the PNs was created by experts from the three programs. The efficacy of training was evaluated using a pre- and posttest. The data show that overall the posttest scores improved from the pretest. In addition, having a high school education or greater or having more years of work experience were significantly related to improvements on the posttest. The first successful standardized national training program was attended by 116 PNs representing 85 cities with the goal to reduce health disparities for medically underserved.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Calhoun
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Whitley
authors.forename: Angelina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Esparza
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ness
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Valverde
mesh_terms: D000570:American Cancer Society; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000193:education*; D054521:Cultural Competency; D003479:Curriculum; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D054547:National Cancer Institute (U.S.); D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States