• Joshua Hauser, Melissa Sileo, Nicole Araneta, Rachel Kirk, Jeanne Martinez, Katie Finn, Joanne Calista, Ercilia Calcano, Lynda Thibodaux, Carol Harney, Kelli Bass, and Mary Kathryn Rodrigue.
• Palliative Care Section and Buehler Center on Aging, Health and Society, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 750 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. j-hauser@northwestern.edu
• Cancer. 2011 Aug 1; 117 (15 Suppl): 3585-91.

AbstractPatient navigation represents an opportunity to further the integration of palliative care with standard cancer care. This article defines palliative and hospice care and describes some of the current challenges of integrating palliative care into other forms of care. It also considers outcomes that navigation might be expected to improve for patients receiving palliative care or enrolled in hospice. These outcomes include symptom relief; communication efficacy; transitions of care; and access to palliative care, hospice, and bereavement care for families. Although these outcomes may not have been specifically assessed in patients in cancer navigation programs, they represent important outcomes for patients receiving palliative care and their families. It is recognized that the types of outcomes that are important to track for patients and families receiving palliative care should be consistent with outcomes at other stages of illness.Copyright © 2011 American Cancer Society.

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