From Your Navigator

Darlene Edwards, RN, MS, explains the importance of effective communication between patients, their care team, and family members to achieve the best quality of care.

Nurse navigator Amy Velasquez examines the difficulties oncology nurses face when assessing their patients’ emotions and non-verbal cues in the age of COVID-19 and mask wearing.

Nurse navigator and multiple myeloma expert Peg Rummel outlines the steps of dealing with multiple myeloma, including diagnostics, treatment planning, and barriers to care.

Breast cancer patient navigator Lisa Spencer knows that what she says to her patients can affect their lives. She wrote this poem honoring the importance of carefully choosing her words as a patient navigator.

Undocumented immigrants often wait too long to seek medical care. Oncology nurse Mark Ryan shares an unlikely story of an undocumented immigrant who received free care from a Harvard-educated neurosurgeon with a similar background.

Oncology navigator Sharon Gentry, RN, MSN, explains the value of reaching out to your navigator. A large part of the navigator’s job is to answer questions related to patient care, from transportation and insurance coverage options to cultural concerns, and everything in between.

Using Lillie Shockney as her sounding board, Fazila Seker, PhD, describes the importance of the nurse navigator, offering valuable advice to patients with behind-the-scenes insights into the healthcare system.

In 2015, Amanda Bruffy, RN, BSN, CNRN, OCN, was about to turn 30, newly single, and had a great job as an oncology nurse navigator when she couldn’t get over a nagging abdominal pain. “My role as an oncology nurse navigator has forever been changed after being on the receiving end of a cancer diagnosis,” she says.

Find out what is involved in fertility preservation, and why young adults with cancer may need to consider it before beginning their cancer treatment.