Patient Navigator Certificate Program with an Integrative Health Specialty
“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”
Contemporary Western Proverb
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Be a pioneer. Make an impact in the emerging and changing US health care systems. Join an exciting new movement to introduce Patient Navigators with an Integrative Health Specialty into the landscape of western medicine. A one year Certificate Program prepares graduates to do just that. “Patient Navigators” are popping up everywhere these days. This growing profession is ranked high in a recent study of emerging encore careers in the health care field. Training in this new role can provide job opportunities in hospitals, medical offices, complementary care offices and more. Sonoma State University, with Sonoma County’s Integrative Medical Clinic Foundation, is offering a first-of-it’s-kind certification program beginning the fall of 2010.
The SSU-IMCF Patient Navigation Certificate Program – the most comprehensive Patient Navigator training program in the country to date – will train graduates to support patients with information and resources for basic needs, navigate complex medical systems, and expand on the existing model of Patient Navigator, which at this point is mostly seen in cancer treatment settings. This program will offer an in-depth survey of complementary medicine, recognizing and responding to the wide-spread use of complementary and alternative therapies amongst the general population. Certified Navigators will have skills to support patients not only with cancer, but also chronic diseases, family challenges, wellness and prevention goals all using a wide breadth of resources and options to meet the healthcare needs and vision of the clients.
Admission to the program requires an application and a personal interview. The program is offered in partnership with the Integrative Medical Clinic Foundation of Sonoma County. The curriculum has been approved by the Nursing and Counseling Departments at SSU.
Applications will be accepted during the spring semester with an application deadline of (TBA). Courses are scheduled to begin in Fall, 2010.
Who should attend:
Registered Nurses or Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists
Licensed alternative practitioners such as acupuncturists, chiropractors or physical therapists
Medical Doctors interested in expanding their knowledge of Integrative Medicine
Individuals interested in starting a private Navigation practice
Individuals wanting an in-depth learning experience in Integrative Medicine
Certificate Requirements:
Students must complete 150 hours of class time and 50 hours of fieldwork. Students must also receive sessions from a minimum of 15 different complementary and alternative practitioners and must successfully demonstrate core Navigation skills with at least two patients.
Career Opportunities
Graduates of this program will be qualified to work as:
Patient Navigators for the growing number of non-profit organizations that are utilizing this new role with the added benefit of an integrative health specialty
Navigators in physicians’ offices, hospitals, medical clinics (licensed only)
Integrative Medicine program managers
Navigators in Complementary and Alternative Medicine offices
Integrative Health Navigators in private practice
Holistic health educators
Integrative health educators
Required Courses:
First Semester
NURS 800 Fundamentals of Holistic Health Care (16 hours class time + 14 hours online)
NURS 800 Healing Modalities (24 hours class time + 14 hours online)
Second Semester
NURS 800 Patient Navigation: Integrative Health Focus (24 hours class time + 21 hours online)
NURS 800 Field Placement and Supervision (16 hours class time + 14 hours online plus 4 hours of patient contact fieldwork)
Electives (offered in January and/or summer session)
NURS 800 Marketing Your Private Practice (3-hour workshop)
NURS 800 Working with Health Care Professionals (required for students who are non-licensed or who do not have experience working in a health care setting)
(3-hour workshop)
NURS 800 Billing Insurance (for licensed practitioners)
(3-hour workshop)
Program Coordinator
Pam Koppel, LCSW, has 20 years experience in the health care field and has been working in the field of Integrative Medicine since 1996. She is co-founder of the Integrative Medical Clinic of Santa Rosa and the Program Coordinator of Integrative Health and Healing Services at Sutter North Bay Women’s Health Center, a program that offers free complementary therapies to women with cancer. She has been providing Integrative Health Navigation services for the past 13 years