摘要：This study analyzed the overlap between roles and activities that health care navigators perform and competencies identified by the Medical Library Association's (MLA's) educational policy statement. Roles and activities that health care navigators perform were gleaned from published literature. Once common roles and activities that health care navigators perform were identified, MLA competencies were mapped against those roles and activities to identify areas of overlap. The greatest extent of correspondence occurred in patient empowerment and support. Further research is warranted to determine the extent to which health sciences librarians might assume responsibility for roles and activities that health care navigators perform. According to the American Medical Association, “the primary role of a patient navigator should be to foster patient autonomy and provide patients with information that enhances their ability to make appropriate health care choices and/or receive medical care with an enhanced sense of confidence about risks, benefits and responsibilities.” Furthermore, “a patient navigator is someone whose primary responsibility is to provide personalized guidance to patients as they move through the health care system. The term patient navigator is often used interchangeably with the term ‘patient advocate,’ and the role may be filled formally or informally by individuals with clinical, legal, financial or administrative experience, or by someone who has personal experience facing health care-related challenges” 1 . Most any discussion of care navigation includes provision of relevant information as a responsibility. While not specific to health sciences librarianship, many activities associated with health care navigators are related to the Medical Library Association's (MLA's) Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success 2 . The current study investigated professional roles performed by patient navigators in the health care system and mapped MLA's competencies for health sciences librarians to the activities associated with those roles in order to identify potential areas in which health sciences librarians might assume select responsibilities in the care navigation model.
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