[Montérégie Comprehensive Cancer Care Centre: integrating nurse navigators in Montérégie's oncology teams: one aspect of implementing the Cancer Control Program--Part 1].

The oncology patient navigator role was developed to ensure both continuity and consultation in the delivery of care to cancer patients and their families. In Québec, this role is filled by a nurse. This first article in a series of two, aims to explain why nurses were selected as patient navigators and to describe how this new role has been integrated in the Montérégie Region. The Québec Cancer Control Program, the definition established for the oncology nurse navigator role and the implementation of an integrated care network based on the Montérégie experience will be discussed.