Patient navigation at work

There is little known about the efficacy of patient navigation programs despite rapid growth in recent years. Patient navigation programs have emerged as one way to reduce disparities by helping patients overcome barriers to health care. This research describes a navigation program in two African American and two Latino churches in Chicago, Illinois. The navigation program is one component of a broader CDC-funded REACH 2010 initiative. The navigators are lay individuals from their respective churches. They seek to ensure that women whom they refer for breast and cervical cancer screening services actually receive mammograms or Pap tests. As of February 2007, 650 women have participated in the program. Every participant was mailed a follow-up survey to evaluate their experience with the patient navigator. To date, 199 were returned and analyzed based on who received either a pap or mammogram. There were not any significant differences in demographics between women who received a pap or mammogram and those who did not. The types of activities most frequently conducted by navigators with women were: scheduling appointments (46%), making reminder and/or follow-up calls for appointments (36%/28%), describing pap or mammogram (24%), and talking about breast/cervical cancer (28%). The most significant finding is that with each additional navigator activity, the greater the likelihood of obtaining a mammogram or pap smear (OR = 1.790, p=.000). These data provide information about the types of navigation services, but also demonstrate the more intensive the navigator activities, the greater the likelihood of successfully completing a women's health service.