The Norwegian Cancer Society’s Patient Navigator
No one shall meet cancer alone!
In Norway we have equal rights, but not equal possibilities. That is why we started the project: “Patient navigator”
The effect we want the navigator to give is this:
- Contribute to better handling and mastering of everyday life.
- Contribute to increased quality of life for the individual user of the service.
- Participate in leveling out social inequality in cancer and help reduce the psychological strain of isolation.
- Give cancer patients energy to spend on other things in everyday life.
- Help strengthen the local cancer care.
Who can get support from a navigator?
- Cancer patients under treatment or in rehabilitation needing extra support.
- Cancer patients with limited network/family/friends available.
- Cancer patients with minority cultural backgrounds.
The role of the navigator:
- Be someone the patient can talk to and who will support her/him.
- Find solutions to practical problems.
- Get an overview of appointments related to treatment or rehabilitation.
- Understand and explain the information from the hospital or other public services.
- Navigate in public systems.
- Support in meetings with different public services.
- Ease pressure and workload for family members or next of kin, provide support when family members live far away, or when there is no next of kin available.
So far there are around 20 navigators. It will be formative dialogue research and an evaluation in June/ July 2022.
If there are any questions you can contact brit.skrinde.lossius@kreftforeningen.no