Legal services: a necessary component of patient navigation.

OBJECTIVES: Access to legal advocacy is an essential tool to help cancer patients and survivors through the continuum of care. This article examines delivery models that can seamlessly integrate into patient navigation programs. DATA SOURCES: Technical reports, books, journal articles, and Web sites.
CONCLUSION: Psychosocial obstacles are common barriers of low-income individuals facing a cancer diagnosis. Legal solutions can help to minimize these obstacles, yet patients rarely have access to these services. Training patient navigators to appropriately screen for legal issues and collaborate with attorneys can be used to help prevent, rather than just react to, legal issues by addressing them as a part of a treatment plan. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Attorneys working with patient navigators, particularly nurse navigators, can impact oncology nursing practice by providing an innovative collaboration that is consistent with emerging trends in patient-centered treatment.