Melanie Cole, MS (Host): Welcome to Bryan Health Podcast. I'm Melanie Cole. And today, we are discussing Oncology nurse navigators. We're really exploring what these very important people do for us at a time of great need. And joining me today is Breanna Nedved. She's an Oncology nurse navigator at the April Sampson Cancer Center, part of Bryan Health.

Breanna, thank you so much for joining us today. So, why don't you tell the listeners what is an Oncology nurse navigator? What do you do? What training is required? Tell us a little bit about what you do for a living.

Breanna Nedved, BSN, RN: Yeah, thanks for having me. An Oncology nurse navigator is a specially trained Oncology nurse, and really we serve as an extra resource for patients and families along the way during any cancer journey. As a nurse navigator, we can help serve as advocates and educators for patients during either a workup for potential cancer or an already known diagnosis. We also assess for barriers that a patient may run into along the way during a diagnosis. These may be things such as financial needs or emotional needs, then we help connect patients with resources that help lower some of the stress that those barriers entail.

Melanie Cole, MS: And what extra training do you need? We hear about nurses, but tell us a little bit about being a nurse navigator, is there extra training involved?

Breanna Nedved, BSN, RN: Yeah. As a oncology nurse navigator at Bryan, we do have to have had oncology work as a nurse prior to taking on this role. So, we do have that, a work background of working in an Oncology area. And then, also, we do have our Oncology certification as nurses too, which is something you specially study for and take an exam. So, it's an extra, aside from being an RN, it's a additional certification that helps give us a little more Oncology experience

Melanie Cole, MS: That's great. So, how do you help patients and their families? What do you do for them? As I said in the intro, diagnosis of cancer is devastating and you don't know where to turn. It's like spinning around. It's very confusing and dizzying and scary. Tell us a little bit about what you do to help make it just a little bit less scary.

Breanna Nedved, BSN, RN: There are many ways we can help patients and their families during their cancer journey. One of these being as we can be a continuous point of contact for them, whether it's checking in during treatments or after appointments, to check on their understanding of all the new information they're receiving, because it can be a lot and we help reiterate what they've learned. We can always be a resource for them to call and talk through their concerns, questions they may be having as they come up. And then, we do provide additional resources, whether it's printed information or booklets, or a list of reliable websites for the patient to kind of get more knowledge on and help reiterate things for them. And really, these things can just help prepare them for the next steps of their cancer journey. We also may help coordinate appointments or additional referrals if needed.

We also assess, like I kind of said before, for potential barriers a patient may come across, and these may be financial needs, emotional needs. They can also be things like transportation needs or food insecurity. We have Oncology social workers with the Bryan Cancer Program that help connect patients with extra resources for these barriers that can help reduce some of those extra stressors that come along with this new diagnosis.

So, some things a social worker or navigator might connect to patient with for these are things like support groups or counseling services if needed, or help a patient apply for grants for financial needs. Or, say, they're having frequent oncology appointments and transportation is a barrier, we help connect them with transportation resources to get to those appointments.

Melanie Cole, MS: That's so helpful and so important. Does someone need to be a patient of the April Sampson Cancer Center to use your services as an Oncology nurse navigator?

Breanna Nedved, BSN, RN: No, we can help patients and families wherever they end up going for care.

Melanie Cole, MS: That's great. Now, how would they get in touch with you? What do they do to get to use your services? So if they've just been diagnosed, they don't know what to do, how do they use your services?

Breanna Nedved, BSN, RN: They can connect with us a few ways. One being if a patient comes to Bryan for a procedure or a surgery related to a cancer, we're often connected with them at that time. But if they get a diagnosis at their doctor's office kind of in the outpatient setting, their doctor's office can always help connect them with us as a free resource. Or in addition, a patient or their loved one can call the Bryan Cancer Program one number, which is 402-481-7900, and then they can connect with the navigator on their own. They can also go to the Bryan Health website. So, multiple ways they can do that.

Melanie Cole, MS: Is there a charge for these services? How would they pay? Does it go through insurance? Is it direct pay? Tell us a little bit about that.

Breanna Nedved, BSN, RN: There is no charge. We're a free service as part of the Bryan Cancer program. Yeah.

Melanie Cole, MS: Wow, isn't that amazing? What else would you like people to know about nurse navigators at Bryan? Because it really is such an important job. And at the time of diagnosis when they're with their families, and it is so scary, what do you tell them, Breanna? How do you help console these families and let them know treatment is available. Tell us a little bit about the team and what you do as far as reassuring them that this help is available.

Breanna Nedved, BSN, RN: We really just want our patients and families to know that you're not alone during this new cancer diagnosis and that we're here to help you and navigate through this cancer journey of the unknown and help just make sure that you have a good understanding of the care you'll be receiving and help alleviate some of those extra stressors that come along the way.

So, really just knowing that they have someone to call outside of their loved ones or friends, someone that they can connect with to talk through questions, concerns, and things like that they may be having, and that can help talk through it with their care team too, and just another resource along the way.

Melanie Cole, MS: Thank you so much, Breanna, for joining us today. Really great information and if people would like to get connected with a nurse navigator at Bryan, they can call 402-481-7900 . And for more information, you can visit bryanhealth.org/cancer. I'd also like to thank our Bryan Foundation partner, Davis Design. And Breanna, thank you so much for all the great work that you're doing and for giving us that information here today. To listen to more podcasts from our experts, you can always visit bryanhealth.org/podcasts. That concludes this episode of Bryan Health Podcast. I'm Melanie Cole.