Nurse Navigator Radiation Oncology

Beth Israel Lahey Health•Peabody, MA

4d•$79,269 - $204,318

About The Position

The Nurse Navigator in Radiation Oncology practices under the general supervision of the Administrative Director and in collaboration with the Associate Chief of Ambulatory Nursing Practice. The role follows the Lahey Clinic Professional Practice Model, the Massachusetts Nurse Practice Act, ANA standards and ethics, and Lahey Clinic’s mission and core values. The Nurse Navigator coordinates individualized patient care with physicians, other healthcare providers, ambulatory staff, and other disciplines, and is accountable for nursing assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of care across the continuum. The Nurse Navigator contacts newly diagnosed cancer patients and/or their families or caregivers to guide them through disease-specific care. The role uses established clinical pathways to direct patients to timely treatment and survivorship services, identifies and addresses barriers to care, connects patients with community resources and support services, and supports the transition from active treatment to survivorship. The Nurse Navigator maintains records of patient-related activities, collaborates with the clinical team to develop care pathways, serves as a clinical contact for patient concerns, reviews medical information before visits, coordinates with referring physicians, develops outcome measurement tools with the research department, and helps identify clinical trials for which patients may be eligible. The position requires safe, culturally competent, age-appropriate nursing care; effective communication and professional relationships; patient and family education; clinical leadership and collaboration; and commitment to evidence-based practice, quality, regulatory compliance, and lifelong learning. The Nurse Navigator also follows organizational policies and customer-service expectations, participates in quality improvement and mandatory education, and performs other duties as needed to meet departmental needs.

Requirements

Graduate of a state-approved and/or accredited School of Nursing.
Current license to practice professional nursing from the Massachusetts Board of Registration.
BLS certification.
Acute-care medical-surgical experience.
Clinical skills and technical knowledge necessary to provide care according to nursing policies and procedures and clinic-specific competencies.
Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills.
Ability to provide safe, culturally competent, age-appropriate patient care and coordinate care across the continuum.
Ability to delegate and supervise in accordance with Massachusetts Nurse Practice Act regulations and ANA Principles of Delegation.
Must meet the employer’s influenza vaccination requirement as a condition of employment.

Responsibilities

Establish contact with newly diagnosed cancer patients and/or their family members or caregivers and guide them through the disease-specific care system.
Use established clinical pathways to direct patients to organizational healthcare services for timely treatment and survivorship.
Identify and address barriers that could prevent patients from receiving timely and appropriate cancer treatment.
Connect patients with community resources, healthcare services, and support services.
Assist patients and disease-specific physicians with the transition from active treatment to survivorship.
Maintain records of patient-related activities.
Collaborate with the disease-specific clinical team to develop clinical pathways for appropriate care.
Serve as the clinical contact for resolving patient-related concerns.
Ensure referring physicians’ medical information has been received; review it before patient visits and discuss it with the disease-specific physician before the visit.
Maintain contact with referring physicians and keep them informed of the patient’s plan of care.
Collaborate with the research department to develop outcome measurement tools.
Help identify open clinical trials for which patients may be eligible.
Assess patients and families systematically and develop culturally competent plans of care that identify problems, expected outcomes, and preventive measures.
Deliver age-appropriate care, evaluate its effectiveness, and adapt the plan based on patient and family responses.
Educate patients and families about illness, treatment, and appropriate preventive measures.
Coordinate safe, high-quality care for assigned patients and families, and accept accountability for nursing assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Delegate and supervise nursing responsibilities in accordance with Massachusetts regulations and ANA delegation principles.
Maintain current knowledge and skill in technical procedures relevant to the nursing specialty and comply with regulatory and accrediting standards.
Demonstrate professional relationships, clinical leadership, teamwork, teaching, regulatory readiness, and evidence-based nursing practice.
Participate in departmental or interdepartmental quality improvement activities and complete mandatory education.
Comply with Lahey Clinic policies, guiding principles, mission, goals, behavioral expectations, and customer-service standards.
Perform other duties as needed or directed to meet departmental needs.