Can Patient Navigators Reduce No-Shows for Cancer Screening Follow-up?

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - July 23, 2015 - PRLog -- Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital reported a 20% decline in the rate of missed appointments for cervical cancer evaluation following a Pap smear when a patient navigator program was initiated at the referral center. The impact of the program and the main reasons for patient no-shows are explored in an article in Journal of Women’s Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free on the Journal of Women’s Health (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jwh.2014.5111) website until August 23, 2015.

In “Effect of Patient Navigator Program on No-Show Rates at an Academic Referral Colposcopy Clinic (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jwh.2014.5111),” Rebecca Luckett, MD, MPH and coauthors from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, describe how specially trained, culturally sensitive patient navigators can guide patients through cancer care. With the appropriate support and assistance, vulnerable patient populations such as African American, Hispanic, and publicly insured women may gain access to improved follow-up care, helping reduce the large racial and socioeconomic disparities in the incidence of and death due to cervical cancer.

“Reducing no-show rates is an important factor in improving health care to vulnerable patient populations, and this study demonstrates the benefit of a patient navigator program in increasing compliance with cervical cancer screening and treatment,” says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women’s Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women’s Health.

About the Journal
Journal of Women’s Health (http://www.liebertpub.com/jwh), published monthly,is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. The Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women’s healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women’s Health (http://www.liebertpub.com/jwh) website. Journal of Women’s Healthis the official journal of the Academy of Women’s Health and the Society for Women’s Health Research.

About the Academy
Academy of Women’s Health is an interdisciplinary, international association of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who work across the broad field of women’s health, providing its members with up-to-date advances and options in clinical care that will enable the best outcomes for their women patients. The Academy’s focus includes the dissemination of translational research and evidence-based practices for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of women across the lifespan.

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com) is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Violence and Gender, LGBT Health, Population Health Management, and Breastfeeding Medicine. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com) website.