leaving bedside nursing

Hi,
I work in disease management. I didn't have any problem moving away from the bedside as my most recent job had been in home health but I do know some nurses who found it difficult and some who did not adapt and who went back into the hospital setting. My advice is to give yourself time to adapt to the change in work environment.

I've been a nurse for 3 yrs now and left the bedside after just 8 months. I have worked for 2 different insurance companies in the capacity of medical review, pre authorization, and transplant nurse. I loved every minute of it and have been paid quite well. I just started working for another large insurance company this week as a Work At Home medical review nurse. There are so many different opportunities for Nurses out there and you will love the non bedside environment.

When I left bedside, I was still able to have contact with some patients. I was warned from the get go that it would take about a year to really get the hang of it. That has so far been the case, been at current job 8 mos. I found that the relationships formed between myself (in pt case mangmnt)and the insurer reviews and preauth people are great. You become friendly but professional, that's a real plus. The pay is great and you are hired for expertise in a certain area. The part you love during bedside nursing is still the same after leaving it, it is the relationships that are built and that happens in case mangement with insurers and case managers. It's unique and different from bedside , but a relationship with others , patients or other adults is great too. We joke and make light of the job, it is great albiet stressful. In my case, EVERY weekend and HOLIDAY OFF. Who can beat it?

I am a new nurse and love my job but in the next few years I may want to try something different so out of curiousity what exactly does the job of a nurse case manager entail... also many of you allude to being paid very well so I was wondering if you guys could throw out a ball park figure... Thanks

Hi,

I start training for my new job as a Case Manager on Wednesday, 9/3/08. I haven't worked in an official case manager capacity, so I really can't tell you about what a case manager does. I know I will be working at home and my salary is $65,500 annually.

I'd be interested in hearing what your job entails once you've been there a few weeks, because I had no idea that case managers could work from home... Oh and thanks for the info

I work in case mgmt for an insurance company and I love it. I was so burnt out by hospital nursing I couldn't stand it. My company is just now starting to roll out work from home. We have some nurses who visit the hospital and see the insured while they are still there and make sure they have the correct billing, supplies, HH, DME, etc ordered.
At some point they hope to have some of us that call and follow up on the members working from home too, which I am highly interested in doing, as I have a long commute.
I LOVE my job, something that probably hasn't happened during my entire nursing career until now!! I have not had any nurses make any derogatory comments to me about my role. We have had a couple of nurses quit to go back to the hospital (their reasoning is beyond me, but whatever floats their boat). But I want to retire from this company!!

WILL DO!!!! keep us posted and good luck!!!