LCI Patient Navigation incorporates the Atrium Health Culture Commitment as guiding principles, as we continue to strengthen our team and our commitment to patients. Our notable strengths include Process Improvement Strategies, Improving Patient Experience, Community Service, and Outreach Projects. These have enabled us to contribute to the system wide strategic goals of Atrium Health. We strive for excellence in patient experience. You will see through the examples provided that our team contributes to improving health equity and providing compassionate, quality healthcare to all our patients. We go above and beyond in caring for patients and families who are disadvantaged demographically, psycho-socially, and or economically.

LCI Navigation team encompasses many locations in which patients are served. The team instituted a plan to improve patient safety/quality across all navigation sites by creating a comprehensive tool to help patients, family members, and staff know who to call. Cancer care and treatment can be complex and overwhelming. The document is entitled “Who Should I Call?” and it clearly delineates the roles and responsibilities of each staff member, ensuring that the patient/family makes the right decision on who to call to receive prompt and excellent service. It also provides consistency among LCI navigation. Teammates and patients have provided feedback and find the tool useful in reaching the proper staff and reducing the number of phone calls and EPIC messages needing to be sent. This in turn ensures that patients receive prompt and efficient resolution of their needs.

Being placed around the region allows nurse navigators to reach many patients who might not get treatment due to distance coming to Charlotte. Navigators work closely with social work and the clinic to advocate, coordinate, and educate patients on their care, assess for any social detriments to healthcare, and provide appropriate resources, referrals, and follow-up to ensure that the barriers are removed.

Professional Practice and Process Improvement strategies were implemented with the development of Navigation Pathways for lung, pancreatic, esophageal, colorectal, and liver cancer. The goal is to improve quality care for patients. Pathways assist general navigators who navigate all tumor sites, determine the best processes for those patients by using detailed, evidence-based treatment protocols. This resulted in an abstract being accepted and presented at the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Congress in April 2023 and the Atrium 2023 Central Market Poster Presentation. The Navigation Pathways poster has also been accepted for presentation at the Academy of Oncology Nurse and Patient Navigators (AONN+) Annual Conference in San Antonio in November 2023. Our goal is to complete a Navigation Pathways document for each tumor site to further assist our general navigators in navigating those patients, especially when they may not be familiar with that disease process. In addition to the tumor sites above, the Leukemia Navigator has completed a Navigation Pathway for Leukemia. This has been disseminated to the team to assist our general navigators. 

The LCI Navigation team understands the importance of and is active in community outreach. The team led two food drives at the Morehead location and at some of the regional sites. The team had a back-to-school supply drive at Morehead and some regional sites. They volunteered at Med Assist, 24 hours of booty and boxed food at Loaves and Fishes. At the Navigator Academy, they made Cards for Troops and collected supplies for Isabella’s Backpacks.