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Patient Navigation in Cancer Care
If you have cancer, patient navigation can offer valuable support. A cancer navigator helps you get past barriers so you can receive quality care before, during, and after cancer treatment. They can also help find support for your caregivers and family.
For example, a navigator might help you:
- Get a cancer screening and schedule a follow-up visit if your screening test result is abnormal.
- Learn more about your cancer and its treatment.
- Manage money problems that come up during and after treatment.
Learn more about the different types of navigators and their role in cancer care.
What is a cancer navigator?
A cancer navigator is someone with special training who helps you navigate your cancer journey. They might work for your cancer center or an outside organization. Sometimes, they are a nurse or a social worker. Other times, they are a trained volunteer.
You will usually meet with a navigator right after a cancer diagnosis.
What can a cancer navigator do for me?
A cancer navigator can help guide you through any part of your cancer journey and make sure you get the quality care you need. Their job is to support you and your family or caregiver. They can help find resources for any physical, social, spiritual, or mental health needs.
Cancer navigators start by talking with you. They ask questions to find out what you need and what might keep you from getting care.
After meeting with you, a navigator might:
- Answer questions about your cancer and treatment.
- Give you information to help you make decisions.
- Help you find resources like community support groups, free or low-cost services, or funds to pay for practical needs.
- Help talk with your health care team.
- Make appointments and help you get to them.
- Follow up to check for new or ongoing questions and needs.
Navigators can help with practical needs
- Transportation
- Money concerns
- Understanding and managing insurance
- Paying for or getting medicines
- Having enough food
- Finding a place to stay during out-of-town treatment
- Child and elder care
- Work and school-related issues
- Language interpreters
Navigators can help with physical needs
- Dealing with side effects of treatment
- Improving your ability to take care of yourself
- Equipment like prostheses, ostomy supplies, and wigs
- Wheelchairs, walkers, or other items to help you move
- Referrals for physical, occupational, or speech therapy
- Referrals for home care, palliative care, or hospice care
Navigators can help with social and emotional needs
- Recognizing and coping with anxiety and depression
- Understanding your diagnosis or treatment
- Dealing with changes in your appearance
- Coping with changes to work and home relationships
- Spiritual concerns
- Support groups
- Referrals for counseling
Types of cancer navigators
All cancer navigators are specially trained to help address the needs of people with cancer. But there are different kinds of navigators, and they focus on different kinds of needs.
You may work with one navigator or several different navigators, depending on what you need.
Clinical navigators
These navigators are health care professionals. Their roles can depend on their training and background.
Oncology nurse navigators are registered nurses with extra training in cancer care.
They might:
- Work with your cancer care team to coordinate your care.
- Keep track of how you are doing.
- Help manage your symptoms and side effects.
- Help you understand your cancer, testing, treatment, and what to expect during and after treatment.
- Answer other questions you have about cancer and treatment.
Oncology social work navigators are social workers who know about cancer care and social and mental health issues.
They can:
- See if you need help with your relationships or your emotional or mental health.
- Help you find treatment services or resources to meet those needs.
- Answer your questions about cancer and cancer treatment.
Non-clinical navigators
These navigators get special training but are not health care professionals.
An oncology patient navigator might work for an organization or be a volunteer. They can help you with non-clinical information and resources.
For example, they might:
- Refer you to local support groups.
- Connect you to social workers and nurses if you have medical questions they aren't able to answer.
- Be a consistent point of contact during your cancer care.
This type of navigator might be trained to help at a certain time or with a specific group. For example, they might focus on getting more people screened for cancer, setting up tests and appointments for people who are newly diagnosed, or connecting people with resources during treatment.
This type of navigator provides non-clinical support through a health care or community organization.
They are trained to give information, resources, and support. They aren’t paid for these services. They may have also had cancer themselves, or they may have been a caregiver for someone with cancer.
They can support you:
- In person
- By phone
- Online
Navigators who focus on certain groups or needs
Cancer site-specific navigators support people with a specific type of cancer. They are usually oncology nurse navigators.
Financial navigators help people with cancer understand what their health insurance plan may cover and what expenses they’ll have to pay out of pocket. They may also help people set up payment plans and find ways to lower treatment costs so they can get the care they need.
Clinical trials navigators give information and help ease concerns about being in a clinical trial. They can help answer your questions, arrange transportation, and help with insurance issues related to the trial.
Population-specific navigators focus on the needs of underserved groups of people to make it easier for them to get cancer screening and care. These navigators are often non-clinical and come from the community they are serving to help build trust.
Pediatric/adolescent/young adult navigators focus on the needs of children, teenagers, or young adults with cancer and their families.
Cancer screening navigators focus on the needs of people getting screened for certain types of cancer, such as lung, breast, or colorectal cancer. They work to get more people screened and help those who may have cancer get further testing and the information they need.
More information
- Written by
- References
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Patient Navigation. Cdc.gov. Accessed at https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/php/interventions/patient-navigation.html on September 2, 2025.
Chan RJ, Milch VE, Crawford-Williams F, et al. Patient navigation across the cancer care continuum: An overview of systemic reviews and emerging literature. CA Cancer J Clin. 2023; 73(6):565-589. Doi:10.3322/caac.21788
Chen, M., Wu, V.S., Falk, D. et al. Patient Navigation in Cancer Treatment: A Systematic Review. Curr Oncol Re. 2024; 26: 504–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-024-01514-9
Franklin E, Burke S, Dean M, Johnston D, Nevidjon B & Booth LS. Oncology navigation standards of professional practice. J Oncol Navig Surviv. 2022; 13.
National Cancer Institute. Financial navigator. Cancer.gov. Accessed at https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/financial-navigator on September 2, 2025.
National Cancer Institute. The Patient Navigator Research Program (PNRP). Cancer.gov. Accessed at https://www.cancer.gov/pnrp-brochure.pdf on September 2, 2025.
The Professional Oncology Navigation Task Force. Oncology navigation standards of professional practice. Clin Journal of Oncology Nursing. 2022; 26(3): E14-E25. doi: 10.1188/22.CJON.E14-E25
Wells KJ, Wightman P, Cobian Aguilar R, et al. Comparing clinical and nonclinical cancer patient navigators: A national study in the United States. Cancer. 2022;128 Suppl 13(Suppl 13): 2601-2609.
Last Revised: September 15, 2025
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