Breast Nurse Navigator

When you join the growing BILH team, you're not just taking a job, you’re making a difference in people’s lives.

Breast Nurse Navigator - Lahey Clinic

Location: Burlington, MA, with occasional travel to Peabody, MA

Schedule: Monday through Thursday, 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, with an earlier start on Friday

About the Role

The Breast Nurse Navigator serves as the primary clinical resource, educator, and advocate for patients diagnosed with breast cancer, guiding them through all phases of care from diagnosis through treatment and survivorship. Working collaboratively with breast surgeons, referring providers, and multidisciplinary care teams, the Nurse Navigator coordinates care across the continuum, facilitates timely access to services, and helps patients navigate complex treatment pathways.

This role establishes relationships with newly diagnosed patients and their families, identifies and addresses barriers to care, coordinates appointments and follow-up services, reviews clinical information to support care planning, participates in multidisciplinary breast tumor conferences, and serves as a key liaison between patients, providers, and support services. The Nurse Navigator also supports quality and outcomes initiatives, clinical pathway development, survivorship planning, and adherence to accreditation standards within Lahey's nationally accredited breast program.

Why Join Us

Make a meaningful impact as a trusted guide and advocate for patients throughout their breast cancer journey.

Work within Lahey's Comprehensive Breast Health Center, one of the few programs in Massachusetts accredited by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC).

Collaborate with a highly skilled multidisciplinary team dedicated to delivering exceptional, patient-centered cancer care.

Play a key role in improving access, coordination, outcomes, and the overall patient experience across the continuum of care.

Enjoy a primarily Burlington-based role with occasional opportunities to support patients and colleagues in Peabody.

Job Description

Essential Duties & Responsibilities: including but not limited to:

I. Clinical Judgment and Decision Making: Ways in which nurses come to understand the problems, issues or concerns of patients/families, to attend to relevant/critical information, and to respond in concerned and involved ways.

The Nurse Navigator is expected to and is accountable for providing safe patient care by demonstrating organizational skills that maintain and coordinate safe delivery of quality care for assigned patients/families.

Develops a culturally competent plan of care that identifies patient problems, expected outcomes, and addresses preventative measures.

• Performs systematic patient and family assessment relevant to practice settings.
• Delivers care that is specific to the age of the patient.
• Evaluates effectiveness of care and adapts plan based on patient/family response.

II. Professional Relationship: The professional relationship is based upon Lahey Clinic’s guiding principles and positive effective communication. This relationship extends beyond formal assessment to integrate the particular patient’s response and his/her religious/spiritual, ethnic and cultural beliefs into the plan of care.

Establishes professional relationship with nurses, physicians and other colleagues and patients and families.

The relationship includes the patient and family as a partner in care and is based upon Swanson’s Theory of Caring.

Educates the patient and family about the patient’s illness and treatment including preventative measures appropriate to the patient. Supports Lahey Clinics commitment to community based activities both within the Lahey community and beyond.

III. Clinical Leadership: The Nurse Navigator supports the development of others and creates a practice climate of responsiveness and learning based on Benner’s Novice to Expert skills acquisition model. This supports the retention and recruitment of clinically competent nurses.

The ability to lead and influence the reasoning of colleagues in the patient’s best interest depends on skillful comportment, authoritative clinical knowledge and wisdom, the conviction to act as an ethical agent despite adverse consequences, and the ability to listen and enhance others’ strengths.

Demonstrates professional behavior by adhering to unit policies and procedures, practice guidelines specific to the setting and the ANA Code of Ethics. Demonstrates skills as a responsive team member. Demonstrates role of nurse as teacher. Demonstrate ability to fulfill role in Regulatory compliance and readiness.

IV. Clinical Scholarship: The Nurse Navigator achieves clinical scholarship through experiences with patients, through collaboration with colleagues and leadership and through formal education. Learning is transformed into knowledge through self-reflection and analysis.

Upholds standards of quality nursing care. Demonstrates a commitment to life long learning. Demonstrates evidenced based practice (EBP) in nursing.

Organizational Requirements

• Incorporates Lahey Clinic Guiding Principles, Mission Statement, and Goals into daily activities.
• Complies with all Lahey Clinic Policies.
• Complies with behavioral expectations of the department and Lahey Clinic.
• Maintains courteous and effective interactions with colleagues and patients.
• Demonstrates an understanding of the job description, performance expectations, and competency assessment.
• Demonstrates a commitment toward meeting and exceeding the needs of our customers and consistently adheres to Customer Service standards.
• Participates in departmental and/or interdepartmental quality improvement activities.
• Participates in and successfully completes Mandatory Education.
• Performs all other duties as needed or directed to meet the needs of the department.

Minimum Qualifications

Education: Graduate of a state approved and/or accredited School of Nursing

Licensure, Certification, Registration

• Current license to practice professional nursing from the Massachusetts Board of Registration
• BLS certification.

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

Clinical Skills/Technical Knowledge

Demonstrates the necessary clinical skills and technical knowledge to provide care for patients according to Nursing Policy and Procedures. Demonstrates the necessary clinical skills and knowledge to provide care for patients according to the clinic-specific competencies. Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills.

Experience: Acute care Medical surgical experience

Pay Range

$79,268.80 USD - $204,318.40 USD

The pay range listed for this position is the annual base salary range the organization reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for this position at this time. Actual compensation is determined based on several factors, that may include seniority, education, training, relevant experience, relevant certifications, geography of work location, job responsibilities, or other applicable factors permissible by law.

As a health care organization, we have a responsibility to do everything in our power to care for and protect our patients, our colleagues and our communities. Beth Israel Lahey Health requires that all staff be vaccinated against influenza (flu) as a condition of employment.

More than 35,000 people working together. Nurses, doctors, technicians, therapists, researchers, teachers and more, making a difference in patients' lives. Your skill and compassion can make us even stronger.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled