how do you get UR/CM experience?

[EDnursetobe]

Hi everyone:

I sometimes think about eventually doing case management or utilization review and browse job postings from time to time. They all seem to require previous experience, but how do you get it?

would love some advice from CMs/UR nurses.

thanks

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

If non-specific regarding experience, they probably mean experience as a nurse in the area they are trying to fill. For instance, Med-Surg nurse experience is impt if you are CM in Med-Surg.

If specific experience mentioned in UR or CM, then apply anyway. They may take your working experience and decide you are a good fit.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

i got my first cm job in 1994, when things were just starting to take off in that sphere. i had not had cm experience but was relatively well-educated and educable , so they took me on and taught me a lot.

i responded to that questionable decision by joining the cmsa, case management society of america, and attending a lot of their programs locally and nationally when i could, and reading their publications (case in point mag is available online). network, network, network; learn, learn, learn. i made sure to tell my employer i was doing that, and they sent me to a rehab nursing course so i could become certified in rehab nursing. that was huge too, for the population we served (mostly work comp and liability injury), and made it easier to do my job as well as to apply for others later on.

i wasn't planning to do this, but fell in love c it and it has led to amazing opportunities since.

i see the ads now often (or almost always) want a ccm (certification in case management), but you can't sit for the exam without two years' experience in the field, so see if you can talk a potential employer into ojt and you'll sit for the exam the minute you're eligible. another alternative is signing on as a telephonic disease manager or care manager with an insurance company-- they'll train you, and it will give you a lot of great information, and it may make you eligible for the exam. last, there are some really good books out there. the classic is weed and berens, life care planning and case management handbook. the third edition is out now. it is not nurse-centric, so you'll need to extrapolate in spots, but it gives you a great hit of background knowledge upon which to hang your nursing knowledge.