Here at Nebraska Spine Hospital, our main focus is providing the best care possible to our patients. One of the ways we achieve that goal is through our team of nurse navigators. Keep reading to learn more about our nurse navigators and how they benefit our patients.
What Is a Nurse Navigator?
A nurse navigator is someone who helps to coordinate a patient’s care from their pre-operative appointment to weeks after they’re discharged from surgery. Our team of nurse navigators do all of the following and more for each patient that comes to Nebraska Spine Hospital.
- Have a pre-surgery call with patients to discuss their health history and details about preparing for surgery
- Discuss which medications are safe for patients to continue before their surgery
- Answer all questions patients have about their surgery and/or recovery
- Meet with patients during their pre-operative appointment to double-check health history and current medications
- Communicate with patients’ primary care physicians to ensure they’re apprised of all pertinent information
- Arrange follow-up appointment with patients’ primary care physician or surgeon
- Call patients after follow-up appointment to discuss how it went
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What Are the Benefits of Having a Nurse Navigator?
As you can see above, the nurse navigators at Nebraska Spine Hospital take on a large role when it comes to patient care. So how does having one person completing these tasks benefit the patient? For starters, we’ve found that having one point of contact for all questions and concerns helps to put our patients at ease. There are many moving parts with any patient’s care, and knowing exactly who to contact for everything can provide a sense of relief.
We’ve also found that having a nurse navigator assigned to patients helps us function better internally. The nurse navigator operates as a hub of information about each of their patients; someone the other staff members can rely on to know the ins and outs of the patient’s medical history and surgery.
Our nurse navigators are just one way the Nebraska Spine Hospital team strives to improve our patient care. Click here to meet our nurse navigators.