Social Workers as Patient Navigators: A Review of the Literature

In recent decades, patient navigation has emerged as a promising strategy to address health disparities. This literature review assesses the involvement of social work in the field of patient navigation and identifies gaps in the literature that future social work research can address. Eighteen publications met authors' inclusion criteria, of which 13 were research studies that used social workers as patient navigators and five were studies that used social workers solely in the training, support, or supervision of patient navigators. Only one of the 18 articles was published in a social work journal, and 69% of the research studies were authored by one group of authors. Although implementation of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides enhanced opportunities for patient navigation, the paucity of research involving social workers suggests that social work scholars and professionals are not yet well positioned to take advantage of these new opportunities. The limited evidence showing social work's impact on patient outcomes is encouraging, but social workers need to increase their contributions in this area and more convincingly demonstrate their effectiveness as patient navigators.