Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #109085

Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH¹, Sandra L. San Miguel de Majors, MS¹, Alexander R. Miller, MD², and Kipling Gallion, MA¹. (1) Dept. of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 8207 Callaghan Rd., Suite 110, San Antonio, TX 78230, 210-348-0255, sandras@bcm.tmc.edu, (2) Surgical Oncology, The Cancer Therapy and Research Center, 7979 Wurzbach Road, Suite G458, San Antonio, TX 78229

This study is evaluating the effectiveness of a patient navigator program that uses a trained community health worker to assist Hispanic patients in utilizing cancer care services. Low income, Hispanic women who receive abnormal breast and/or cervical cancer screening results from two community clinics will be selected to participate. One hundred patients will be randomly assigned to one of two arms (n=50 per arm). The Treatment Arm clinic patients will be administered (at baseline) a Patient Satisfaction Survey (PSS) reflecting on their personal experience with the healthcare system historically and secondly regarding their most recent cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment experience six months from baseline (post services). Clinical data about their abnormal breast and/or cervical cancer screening results will be extracted from their records. In addition, a patient navigator (PN) will facilitate scheduling clinic visits, resolving medical problems and non-medical delays in evaluation. The Comparison Arm patients will be administered the PSSs, and their clinical data will also be extracted from their records, but will not receive the PN services. Evaluation involves both process and outcome measures. Process evaluation will entail monitoring the navigator's activities, developing a database to monitor the sample identification, recruitment and follow-up activities. The sources of outcome data will include the responses from the PSSs, the clinical records, the scheduling information and the responses from healthcare personnel about the efficacy of the PN Service. This session will present the preliminary results, prepared by the PN, of the study with comments on future patient navigator services.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify underserved community medical clinics that could benefit from a patient navigator program.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of a patient navigator program in an underserved community clinic.
• Develop partnerships with underserved community clinics to implement patient navigator programs with the help of community health workers to improve patients’ health care services.

Keywords: Latino Health, Community Health Centers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.