Navigation

April 2012 marks the beginning of the Partnership’s second five-year mandate and the next phase of implementing Canada’s national cancer strategy. The priorities and initiatives for the next five years are outlined in our 2012-2017 strategic plan, Sustaining Action Toward a Shared Vision. Our website will soon be updated to reflect the activities supporting the strategic plan. The information below reflects the priorities and accomplishments of our work between 2007 and 2012. 

Programming to help patients access quality care and services

Navigation programs help people actively receiving cancer care to access services, chart their course through the health-care system and actively overcome barriers, with a goal of enabling them to receive quality care. Whether led by a health-care professional, facilitated by a trained survivor or delivered online, navigation programs can ensure continuity of care and timely delivery of services, improve satisfaction and enhance empowerment and decision-making. The Partnership’s work in this area focuses on the development and implementation of customized local, provincial and territorial programs.

Progress to date

• The Partnership collaborated with three provinces to implement three distinct types of navigation programs. In British Columbia volunteers are engaged as navigators, in Ontario nurse navigators guide patients through the diagnostic phase of cancer and in Manitoba navigators work with patients in rural satellite and other treatment facilities.
• In May 2009, the Partnership commissioned a pilot study to understand how virtual navigation can support melanoma and colorectal cancer patients. Evaluations were conducted at numerous cancer centres across Canada. A final report, Virtual Navigation in Cancer: A Pilot Study, is available on cancerview.ca.
• Ongoing consultations have been held across provinces with health-care providers to explore the experiences of navigators in their scopes of practice, use of screening for distress tools and engagement with peer navigators and survivorship programs. These consultations provide an opportunity to broaden and deepen a national network and create a collaborative framework for action to guide the way forward.
• Two online navigation communities of practice have been formed on cancerview.ca:
• Navigation Consortium for individuals involved in the Atlantic Navigation Consortium.
• Navigation Implementation for individuals involved in the implementation of navigation projects in British Columbia, Ontario and Manitoba.
• The Partnership completed the Guide to Implementing Navigation, a publication that clarifies the roles and responsibilities of various types of navigation for health-care providers, administrators and policy-makers interested in developing and sustaining programs