Memorial Patient Navigator Earns Professional Certification
Announcement
Lenore Hayes, Patient Navigator for Lake Charles Memorial Cancer Center, is now an Oncology Patient Navigator–Certified Generalist™ (OPN-CG). This certification is the only one of its kind for nonclinical navigation professionals and is awarded by the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+).
“We are incredibly proud of the non-clinical navigators who comprise our inaugural class of OPN-CG™ designees,” says Lillie Shockney, RN, BS, MAS, co-founder and program director, AONN+. “Through their success, they have demonstrated to their peers, patients and employers that they possess the knowledge and understanding that is necessary to excel in this profession.”
The 47 nonclinical navigators who sat the inaugural OPN-CG™ exam during AONN+’s annual conference this past November were required to demonstrate their competency across a broad array of patient care areas. These included: community outreach/prevention; coordination of care; in-patient and care transitions; patient advocacy and empowerment; psychosocial support services/assessment; survivorship and end-of-life care; identification and elimination of barriers to care; operations management and organizational development.
In addition to passing the exam, OPN-CG™ candidates must have 1 year of direct navigation experience and be an AONN+ member in good standing. The OPN-CG™ exam and the Oncology Nurse Navigator–Certified Generalist™ (ONN-CG™) exam for oncology nurse navigators, are administered twice a year. These exams were developed by AONN+’s Certification Task Force, which is comprised of experienced navigation professionals and educational experts.For more information about Memorial's Patient Navigator program, click here.
About the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators® (www.aonnonline.org)
The Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators, Inc. (AONN+) is the largest national specialty organization dedicated to improving patient care and quality of life by defining, enhancing, and promoting the role of oncology nurse and patient navigators. The organization, which has more than 5,000 members, was founded in 2009 to provide a network for all professionals involved and interested in patient navigation and survivorship care services in order to better manage the complexities of the cancer treatment process.
