Nurse Navigator, Hematology, 40 Hours Days

UMass Memorial Health•Worcester, MA

About The Position

The Nurse Navigator guides patients through the healthcare system from screening through diagnosis and follow-up. The role helps patients address access issues, builds relationships with service providers, tracks interventions and outcomes, and serves as a clinical expert in patient care. It coordinates care across multiple departments and throughout the healthcare continuum, including family involvement, patient education, symptom management, and connections to community and support services. The position also supports quality improvement, data tracking, multidisciplinary planning, and a respectful, professional work environment. This is a 40-hour-per-week day position, scheduled Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Work is sedentary and indoors in a patient-care and office environment. The listed hiring range is $89,668.80–$161,408.00 for a full-time schedule; the final offer varies based on scheduled hours, experience, skills, qualifications, and internal equity. A signing bonus may be available, with eligibility confirmed during the interview process. The posting includes role-specific addenda for several clinical areas. For the Cancer Center role, additional requirements include disease-site-specific oncology and post-surgical nursing experience; breast nurse navigators must have NAPBC accreditation. Other addenda describe additional duties or qualifications for palliative care, orthopedic care, endoscopy, neurology, stroke, COPD, primary care/post-acute care, TB/harm reduction, nuclear medicine, heart failure/structural heart, interventional radiology, and the Radiology Breast Center. The selected role-specific requirements depend on the applicable assignment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Nursing.
Current Massachusetts Registered Nurse licensure and registration.
At least 5 years of nursing experience.
Excellent teaching, consultation, and customer-service skills.
Excellent critical-thinking skills.
Demonstrated leadership experience.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Computer literacy, including knowledge of Microsoft Office products.
For the Cancer Center role: at least 5 years of oncology experience in the specific disease site and post-surgical nursing experience.
For breast nurse navigators: accreditation through NAPBC.
For the Stroke role: at least 8 hours of education per year on cerebrovascular disease and stroke; obtain NIHSS and mRS certification within one month after starting; obtain SCRN certification within 18 months after starting.
For the COPD role: experience working with patients with COPD and asthma, educating them about disease management, medication self-management, and lifestyle changes; experience helping patients navigate care and manage anxiety and depression related to chronic pulmonary disease.
For the Primary Care First and Post-Acute Care role: experience working with Medicare or attributed PCF/UMMACO beneficiaries with behavioral-health and multiple chronic conditions; medication review and reconciliation during transitions; disease and medication-management education; recommending SUD/OUD coaching or bridging-clinic referrals as needed; helping patients access behavioral-health services, psychiatric consultations, therapy, and support for anxiety, depression, end-of-life care, palliative care, and hospice.
For the Heart Failure/Structural Heart role: at least 3 years of Cardiology RN experience, ability to work effectively in a strong team environment, and excellent assessment and documentation skills, including accurate documentation.
For the Interventional Radiology role: at least 1 year of experience in a surgical or procedural service line, such as interventional radiology or vascular surgery.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Nursing; the COPD and Primary Care First/Post-Acute Care addenda specify a master’s degree as preferred.
Skilled use of EMR and other software.
Project management experience.
Oncology certification, except for breast nurse navigators.
Palliative Care certification and previous palliative-care experience, for the Palliative Care role.
At least 2 years of orthopedic-care experience and previous experience with risk-based episodes of care, for the Orthopedic role.
At least 2 years of endoscopy-care experience and previous experience with risk-based episodes of care, for the Endoscopy role.
Neuroscience certification, Ambulatory Nurse or other ANCC certification, and experience in acute care or neurological disease-specific conditions, for the Neurology Clinic role.
Experience in acute care or neurological disease-specific conditions and Ambulatory Nurse or other ANCC certification, for the Stroke role.
For the COPD role: experience triaging pulmonary exacerbations across post-acute settings with primary-care providers and pulmonologists; familiarity with Better Breathers Clubs, smoking-cessation programs, and community support and networking options; and familiarity with Breathe Well, Live Well asthma education resources.
For the Primary Care First and Post-Acute Care role: experience triaging patients with behavioral-health, substance-use, and medical comorbidities across acute and post-acute settings; experience educating and referring patients to specialized intervention programs and resolving access issues; and established relationships with community agencies and resources.
For the TB/Harm Reduction role: experience in community settings treating TB, HIV, or sexually transmitted infections.
For the Nuclear Medicine role: previous Nurse Navigator experience, previous oncology clinical experience, and knowledge of radiology or radiation safety.
For the Heart Failure/Structural Heart role: previous Epic experience.
For the Radiology Breast Center role: previous Nurse Navigator experience, radiology background, and experience with breast imaging or breast oncology care.

Responsibilities

Facilitate patients’ entry into diagnostic and treatment services and coordinate their care, including family involvement, across the healthcare continuum and multiple departments.
Help patients understand their diagnoses, treatment options, recommended follow-up, and available resources.
Use the nursing process to comprehensively assess patients’ physical and psychological status.
Evaluate patient progress along the continuum and make professional and personal modifications with the healthcare team as appropriate.
Track post-care patients, help ensure post-treatment standards of care and referrals are met, and arrange clinical satisfaction surveys when needed.
Coordinate and participate in multidisciplinary planning conferences and assist with preparing patient summaries for the care team.
Provide patient and family education throughout care and facilitate symptom management.
Connect patients with community resources and support services, including social services, nutrition, psychological and pastoral care, physical and rehabilitation therapy, financial counseling, pharmacy, and related organizations.
May coordinate and participate in patient support groups with social workers.
Assist with tracking metrics and quality indicators related to timely and effective diagnosis and treatment, and may help produce quality-improvement reports.
Develop, implement, support, or attend relevant programs, workshops, seminars, and support services.
Use and optimize data systems to identify and triage patients and track outcomes.
May assist with clinic calls and perform telephone triage within the scope of practice as a licensed registered nurse.
May work across multiple campuses and settings.
Comply with departmental policies, procedures, objectives, and health and safety requirements; attend required meetings and training; apply quality improvement in daily operations; maintain reliable attendance; and perform related duties as required.
For the Nuclear Medicine Theranostics assignment: coordinate care with Radiation Therapy, Radiation Oncology, and the Cancer Center; obtain prior authorization for treatment plans and associated imaging; order radiopharmaceuticals and communicate changes; maintain radiation-safety awareness and triage exposure or contamination concerns; and support training for caregivers.
For the Heart Failure/Structural Heart assignment: conduct remote monitoring surveillance as needed, maintain and analyze patient database information, identify care trends, and educate staff and affiliated providers about the program.
For the Interventional Radiology assignment: help optimize pre-procedure care, including medication review and holds, chart review, pre-procedure clearance, and post-procedure navigation.
For the Radiology Breast Center assignment: assist with advanced-imaging appointment coordination and evaluate medical records for procedure appropriateness.