Enfermeiro Navegador como prática de assistência à saúde em oncologia

Abstract

Patient Navigation is a patient-centered care model. This modality of care promotes the monitoring of a patient's path through the continuum of health care, which can often be considered complex. The navigator nurse is the professional trained to identify the barriers faced by the patient during their journey, acts to overcome these barriers and offers support to patients and family members in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The objective of this study was to describe the performance of the nurse navigator in health care in oncology. This is a descriptive, exploratory study with a qualitative approach. “Snowball” sampling was used, which is a form of non-probabilistic sampling that uses key informants, called “seeds”. A survey was carried out of professionals who worked in the navigation of patients in oncology, through the Lattes Platform, contact was made and an invitation was made to participate in the survey. The research was submitted to the Ethics and Research Committee of HUUFMA, approved under opinion nº 5,399,677. It involved nine professional nurses working in the field of navigation in Brazil. The meeting was held in person and through Google Meeting, in individual meetings, and a semi-structured interview was applied. Data were analyzed according to Laurence Bardin's content analysis with the theoretical framework of philosopher Emmanuel Levinás. The study resulted in the grouping of the participation of those involved into two categories: Nurse Navigator Performance and Nurses' Perception of Patient Navigation. This study revealed the importance of this professional in assisting and directly monitoring cancer patients, valuing their role within all stages they face. He praised the connection and bond established from the first contact between the binomial nurse navigator and patient, in addition to being able to demonstrate the importance of this professional within the health care community.