Enhancing the care navigation model: potential roles for health sciences librarians

Area of Science:

• Health Sciences
• Information Science
• Patient Navigation

Background:

• Health care navigators play a crucial role in guiding patients through complex healthcare systems.
• The Medical Library Association (MLA) has defined key competencies for health sciences librarians.
• Understanding the overlap between these roles can reveal opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the alignment between health care navigator roles and MLA competencies.
• To identify areas where health sciences librarians could potentially support patient navigation activities.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of published literature to identify common health care navigator roles and activities.
• Mapping identified navigator roles against MLA's defined competencies.
• Analysis of the extent of correspondence between the two sets of criteria.

Main Results:

• Significant overlap was found between health care navigator activities and MLA competencies.
• The strongest correspondence was observed in areas related to patient empowerment and support.
• Specific MLA competencies align well with key patient navigation functions.

Conclusions:

• Health sciences librarians possess competencies that overlap with essential health care navigator functions.
• There is potential for health sciences librarians to contribute to patient navigation services.
• Further research is recommended to explore the practical implementation of librarians in patient navigation roles.