Perceptions and experiences of care providers as clients of NaviCare/SoinsNavi: a patient navigation centre for children and youth with complex care needs

Abstract

Objective NaviCare/SoinsNavi is a bilingual patient navigation centre for children and youth 25 years of age or younger with complex care needs in New Brunswick. This research-based centre employs two bilingual patient navigators, one a registered nurse and the other a lay navigator, who assist children/youth, family members and the care team by facilitating more convenient and integrated care using a personalised family-centred approach. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of care providers who use NaviCare/SoinsNavi. This study builds on ongoing research exploring the experiences of children/youth and their families who are clients of NaviCare/SoinsNavi. Methods Interviews were conducted with 10 care providers (n=10) from various sectors including social support services (n=6), primary care (n=2), mental health services (n=1) and acute care (n=1). Results Qualitative interviews were conducted and five themes related to the participants’ perceptions and experiences with NaviCare/SoinsNavi emerged, including : (1) trusted source, (2) connector, (3) capacity builder, (4) partner and (5) time saver. The overall impression of NaviCare/SoinsNavi was positive in the service’s ability to help support care providers and streamline the care they provide to their clients. Conclusions It is within every healthcare provider’s scope of practice to provide navigational support to essential programmes and services; however, due to limitations in time, resources and capacity, services such as NaviCare/SoinsNavi can be used to help close gaps in care that exists for children/youth with complex care needs and their families.