ArticleBMC health services research2018
Navigation delivery models and roles of navigators in primary care: a scoping literature review.
Article in BMC health services research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 133 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
133 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Community care navigation intervention for people who are at risk of unplanned hospital presentations.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Working between systems: an umbrella review of care navigator roles and responsibilities.Frontiers in health services · 2025Pooled it
- Patient navigator programmes for children and adolescents with chronic diseases.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Outcomes and instruments used in social prescribing: a modified umbrella review.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2024Pooled it
- Effectiveness of system navigation programs linking primary care with community-based health and social services: a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2023Pooled it
- Community Health Workers as Healthcare Navigators in Primary Care Chronic Disease Management: a Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Screening and Referral Care Delivery Services and Unmet Health-Related Social Needs: A Systematic Review.Preventing chronic disease · 2021Pooled it
- Staff perceptions of care navigators in medication for opioid use disorder treatment settings.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2026Trial
- The stroke transitional care intervention for older adults with stroke and multimorbidity: a multisite pragmatic randomized controlled trial.BMC geriatrics · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Increasing access to family planning services among women receiving medications for opioid use disorder: A pilot randomized trial examining a peer-led navigation intervention.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2021Trial
- Professional patient navigation in a hospital setting: a randomized controlled trial.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Trial
- Experiences of integrating community volunteers as extensions of the primary care team to help support older adults at home: a qualitative study.BMC family practice · 2020Trial
- Implementation of Expanding Primary Care Teams to Improve Anemia Diagnosis.Journal of primary care & community healthTrial
- Features of Virtual Navigation Systems for Health Care and Social Services Associated With Patient Outcomes: Protocol for a Scoping Review.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Stakeholder-Perceived Needs in Early Community Nursing Implementation: A Qualitative Study.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2026Article
- Integrating the primary care perspective in the implementation of a diabetes prevention program for patients with recent gestational diabetes: a qualitative descriptive study.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Effects of Social Prescribing for Older Adults: An Evidence and Gap Map.Campbell systematic reviews · 2026Review
- Exploring transitions in care for individuals living with and beyond cancer: A qualitative study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Beyond capacity: qualitative stakeholder perspectives on demand for health-related social needs navigation through patient self-navigation tools.BMC health services research · 2026Article
73 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSystems navigation provided by individuals or teams is emerging as a strategy to reduce barriers to care. Complex clients with health and social support needs in primary care experience fragmentation and gaps in service delivery. There is great diversity in the design of navigation and a lack of consensus on navigation roles and models in primary care.
methodsWe conducted a scoping literature review following established methods to explore the existing evidence on system navigation in primary care. To be included, studies had to be published in English between 1990 and 2013, and include a navigator or navigation process in a primary care setting that involves the community- based social services beyond the health care system.
resultsWe included 34 papers in our review, most of which were descriptive papers, and the majority originated in the US. Most of the studies involved studies of individual navigators (lay person or nurse) and were developed to meet the needs of specific patient populations. We make an important contribution to the literature by highlighting navigation models that address both health and social service navigation. The emergence and development of system navigation signals an important shift in the recognition that health care and social care are inextricably linked especially to address the social determinants of health.
conclusionsThere is a high degree of variance in the literature, but descriptive studies can inform further innovation and development of navigation interventions in primary care.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.