Our Summit brought together over 120 individuals, including researchers, government personnel, service providers, educators, healthcare workers, and family advocates. This manuscript documents the proceedings of the BC Summit on Navigation for Children and Youth with Neurodevelopmental Differences, Disabilities, and Special Needs, which took place on January 18 and was developed in collaboration with a Provincial Advisory Group. In this context, PN involves the provision of information, advice, education, and emotional support, coordination of services both within and across sectors, and the work is guided by person- and family-centred principles of practice. Over time, this approach has been extended to various social and health contexts, including most recently to children with neurodisability and their families.
Patient navigation (PN) represents a branch of service delivery traditionally aimed at coordinating disjointed care services for patients with particular health conditions (e.g., cancer, HIV, diabetes). This conference was an important first step to creating a shared national conversation about navigation services so that we can continue to develop, implement, and share best evidence and practices in the field. These next steps were determined to be: 1) agreement on navigation-related definitions, 2) regulation and training, 3) equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, 4) integrating lived experience, and 5) regional coordination. The panel presentation focused on identifying how the navigation field has progressed in Canada and identifying crucial next steps in navigation. Concurrent and poster presentations covered a range of topics pertaining to approaches to navigation, navigator roles, evaluation and quality improvement, lived experience in navigation, and navigation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A poster session was held at the end of the first day, and a panel presentation rounded out the second day. Concurrent oral presentations by a variety of presenters were held following each keynote presentation.
This event spanned two days, which both began with a keynote address, one from a researcher and medical professional in navigation, and another from an individual with lived experience involved in advocacy in Canadian healthcare. This event was co-hosted by the Family Navigation Project at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and NaviCare/SoinsNavi at the University of New Brunswick, and took place virtually on April 15–16, 2021. The Canadian Healthcare Navigation Conference was the first event of its kind in Canada to bring together navigation researchers, service providers, students, decision makers, and individuals with lived experience to share lessons learned, promising practices, and research findings. Navigation supports for individuals experiencing complex care needs have shown significant promise and have been gaining traction across Canada. Navigators provide a patient-centred service, guiding individuals through their care plans and overcoming barriers to care. Navigation is a strategy that can help people facing complex care needs and barriers to care in finding and accessing needed supports in the health care system. Individuals experiencing chronic illnesses face many physical, emotional, and social strains as a result of their illnesses, all the while trying to navigate unfamiliar territory in the healthcare system.