When hit by a serious diagnosis such as cancer, patients are often overwhelmed with shock, and then expected to learn mountains of information about their disease and treatment in order to best manage it. Add in the complicated maze of billing and insurance and it is all too much for many.

To help, some hospitals are putting nurses into a new role, that of "patient navigator", according to an article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. The patient navigator is a special liaison to patients: helping patients understand the latest treatment options and medications, helping with billing and insurance and even navigating the hospital bureaucracy.

"There is a need for it," Essam Shihadeh, MD, told the News-Miner. "This will give more tailored, individualized care to the patient." The Fairbanks Medical Hospital where Shihadeh works is launching such a position for breast cancer patients.

Careers in nursing have strong job prospects, with specializations such as this only expanding the field. Although there has been a slow down of hiring of recent graduates, the Bureau of Labor Statistics still expects strong long-term growth, 23 percent from 2006 to 2016. Specialists in the nursing field such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation also predict a nursing shortage that will increase demand through 2020.