Case management stress

Specialties Case Management

Updated:   Published

I have been working in case management for 2 years now and I am starting to get burnt out. The job is very stressfull, its not physically demanding but its a lot of mental stress and anguish. You see people myself included so over whelmed with way too much to do, can never catch up, and just given more and more work to do. It is not worth the stress but I need a job. It's making me depressed really. It's not healthy to be so stressed out and have horrible headaches everyday because of it. It's just extreme multi tasking. if you ask me how was your day? my answer would be extremely fast paced and stressfull.

Same here!!!! I got out of clinical nursing because I thought that was too stressfull....but wow this is even worse!!! I realize where I have worked over 2 years that we will NEVER get manageable caseloads. I will not be able to handle it much longer. We have very high turnover also. I also get depressed often because of the stress and also the situations I deal with. I have never worked so much at a job as I do now, but no extra pay since paid on salary.

yeah, im an LVN now, but being an RN doing home health seems the way to go for me.

I am so right there with you. I will most likely be quitting tomorrow. Taking the leap, burned out, stressed out, way underappreciated and unhappy. Spend my life alone in my car or at home on my computer working. This is no kind of worklife, for me anyway. Good luck!

How sad to see your posts. What type of case management do you do? Worker's comp, pediatric, hospital-based, insurance-based?

I experience less burnout with disease management depending on how management has it structured.

Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

To all: I experienced burnout with my first FT Nursing Case Management job as well. I choose to only perform UR for that company and resigned my full-time position for a PT UR one because I could no longer take the stress. My current FT job has stress too, but absolutely nothing like my last job. The reason being I have support in this job. For instance, there are other human beings responsible for stuff that needs to be done for the patient; I am no longer the only one. In fact, I learned boundaries in my current role, that if I had them in my last role, I think I would have done myself a world of good! Therefore, those of you who are taking on too much, stop!

I thought incorrectly that I was responsible for everything and I allowed others (doctors, patients, family members, other health care people, vendors, management, etc.) to make me think that I was responsible for everything. I was wrong and so were they! Once I was able to remove myself from my past FT position, I saw the areas where I took on too much and made myself sick. My co-workers were just as bad so I could not figure this out until I left. Speaking of co-workers. Most have eitherl eft on FMLA (yep... stress), quit, or re-negotiated his/her terms of employment, like me.

By the way, quitting is not a bad option if you cannot see now what I am saying to be true. Just be sure to have a job lined up before you resign and do not burn bridges while you remain. For example, one of my co-workers (who was not necessarily one of the strongest or most resourceful casemanager around) had the audacity to tell our managers she hated the job and planned to quit.... She thought this gave her license to be negative and unprofessional at work and to constantly remind everyone she was leaving.... Anyway, she did not find another job almost a year after her announcement and ended up performing so poorly she was fired. Good luck.

Your comments are very helpful. Can we start up this thread again? I am interested to hear what Case Managers think now that CMS regulations have tightened, insurance companies are covering fewer services, NAVI Health is involved, and hospitals are enforcing decreased lengths of stay. Any thoughts on this? Can anyone tell their experience of what field of nursing they entered after they left Case Management? I have been in healthcare since 1998 and thought Case Management would provide an improved work/life balance, but it has become nearly oppressive.

Remember the Fat Man's Law: The patient is the one with the disease.

Work-life balance is as much about maintaining your professional boundaries as anything. Every nursing job demands more of you than you should be expected to give-- unpaid overtime isn't unique to any specialty. Worrying that we haven't done enough isn't, either.

Work-life balance primarily depends on your scheduled time off from work where you are NOT WORKING and SOMEBODY ELSE WILL TAKE CARE OF IT.

If all nurses could see their ways clear to do this, I think the profession as a whole would be healthier for its practitioners.

1 Votes
On 2/4/2013 at 3:07 PM, mtngrl said:

Same here!! I got out of clinical nursing because I thought that was too stressfull....but wow this is even worse! I realize where I have worked over 2 years that we will NEVER get manageable caseloads. I will not be able to handle it much longer. We have very high turnover also. I also get depressed often because of the stress and also the situations I deal with. I have never worked so much at a job as I do now, but no extra pay since paid on salary.

I got offered case manager at an LTACH setting where you do everything including your...just wondering if it's worth going into as I was burned out from the bedside.  If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing now?

Specializes in Former NP now Internal medicine PGY-3.

I don't know how you all do case management its got to be one of the hardest yet most important jobs in the hospital.!

One of the most stressful , time demanding , no work-life balance at all. All the comments made , regarding the demands of  the job, are absolutely correct... yes, bedside care is stressful , but dealing with demanding insurances , staff, families and MD's , is too much. 

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