Testing Effectiveness of a Community Resource Navigation Intervention to Enhance Health Professional Education, Reduce Unmet Social Needs, and Improve Patient Health

At a Glance

Patients with unmet social needs —such as housing and food insecurity —need to be paired with available community resources. At two UW Health clinics since 2016, student navigators havehelped connect patients with resources. This study will determine whether student navigators’ training and experience enhances their inter-professional development.

The Challenge

Social needs influence health outcomes, yet are beyond the scope of practice for most primary healthcare providers. In order to meet patients’ needs beyond the clinic setting, programs like the Community Resource Navigator Program, which has been underway at two UW Health clinics since 2016, incorporate screening for unmet social needs into routine clinical care. When patients screen positive for unmet social needs, they are paired with student navigators who help connect the patients with community resources. However, professional outcomes for student navigators and program efficacy have not yet been evaluated.

Project Goals

The goals of this project are two-fold:First, the study aims to determine whether the training and experience of being a student navigator enhances inter-professional development of future health professionals. Second, the study will assess how the student navigator role influences pre-health professionals’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and career trajectories and its effectiveness in enhancing health workforce development.
The findings have the potential to inform national conversations on the effectiveness of using a volunteer-driven social resource navigator program in a clinical setting. Future work by this team will evaluate whether the navigator program is effective in reducing unmet social needs and improving patient outcomes.