Experience and Degree

CM's in our area all have Master's, at least at my hospital we do. I live in the Medwest. I would say, mimimum clinical experience would we 10 years. Med surg, critical care, would be good, although honestly, a variety of clinical experiences is the best. I have worked med-surg, OR, OB and Psych, and those different clinical experiences have served me well as a CM. Hope that helps, and GOOD LUCK!

It depends on what area of case management you are interested in. For Worker's Comp and Insurance case management you do NOT need a MSN. To work in a hospital setting, it depends on your location and the hospital. Some teaching hospitals require an MSN; smaller hospitals will take a BSN. You need experience in the area of CM in which you will be working. For W/C neuro and ortho is good, but for disease management (like Healthways, HMC, BCBS), strong med-surg or home health is necessary. I know in Nashville, some MSN CNS's are working as case managers.Hope this helps a little. For example, since I have tons of W/C CM exp., I really am not a good candidate for a hospital CM position, unless I finish my MSN

I would recommend NP... CRNA won't help you get into CM... you would just do anesthesia, which is also high paying, but high risk. For anesthesia programs here you have to have two years critical care, before they will even consider you. I would say, go for the advanced degree, it will soon enough be required, don't kid yourself on that. Get some clinical experience, med surg, critical care, or OR... all those would be useful, maybe then you may have a better idea what you might want to specialize in. Hope that helps.

1. I don't think there is a definite answer, other than the more the better.
2. Again, the clinical experience required depends largely on the area of CM you want to get into. Obviously, if you are interested in managing cancer pts, oncology experience is essential. If you are looking at something broader, I would agree with the other posters who suggested med/surg, critical care etc. I would also suggest that home health would help you to learn the needs of the client outside the hospital.
3. I have an ASN with BSN pending. In my niche, MSNs are rare. I'm thinking of going MPH personally. I cannot speak to the requirements of hospital CMs, since I have no experience in that arena. I also live in the midwest.

Guess that wasn't really helpful was it, what you need depends largely on what you want to do. Good Luck!

Well, I'll be interested to see what others have to say. I was lucky enough to land the first CM job I applied for. But what I am hearing is that finding a CM job can be a challenge. Most CMs enjoy their job, and the turnover seems to be less than in other areas of nursing.

The hospital I work at requires a minimum BSN with 5 years clinical experience. I, too, landed the first CM job I applied for. I started in January and Love it!!

Alot depends on what type of Case Mangement your are pursuing. Most Case Managers are RNs who hold anywhere from Diploma, ASN, BSN, MSN an advanced degree is NOT required for all positions. Some "Case Managers" are not nurses they are masters prepared social workers, there are also LVN case managers. Often Case Manager is the term used for home health nurses. There are hospital based CM, home health CM, Insurance and Work Comp CM the list goes on. Depending on the type of CM you are pursing It could require just a couple years of general acute nursing experience. What type of Case Management are you interested in?