Advice please! EHR Clinical Coordinator RN vs. Case Management

Specialties Informatics

Published

Hi Guys-

I've been wanting to make a change from onc/med surg for a while.  I've been on the same floor for almost 6 years.  While I have a great crew at work I no longer love what I'm doing.  This past year I hurt my back at work.  That has made me think the time is now to make a change.  I've been looking into case management for a while...there was an opening at my hospital and I applied.  I hadn't heard anything so I also applied to an EHR coordinator RN position.  Well, they both called me and I have interviews scheduled this coming week.  Any input on either position? Both are within the healthcare organization I work for.  CM position is at my current hospital 45 minutes from home.  The EHR position is at my local hospital 10 minutes from home.  What are the pros and cons that you see to these positions? I'm nervous to make a change, but so ready to leave bedside.  Lastly, do you miss 3 12's? I haven't done 8's for so long...

Thank you.  

Specializes in Informatics, Critical Care, Case Management.

Hi JLA, 

Hopefully your interviews went well this week. I am a clinical informatics coordinator and I have also worked in case management. Both are good nursing jobs that have a different scope than your traditional bedside position. 

CM pros: I was able to see many patients' courses through their hospital stays and be involved in the care and discharge planning of many patients rather than a few. I learned Interqual criteria (utilization review), the medical criteria many insurances use to justify a patient's stay in the hospital and therefore reimburse hospitals accordingly. I learned the importance of length of stay, not only from a risk perspective (think nosocomial and also readmission), but also from a reimbursement perspective. 
CM Cons: Doctors avoid you, and will flat out yell at you for trying to manage their patients. Unless, of course, you work in a hospital where everybody sees each other as part of a team!

I've been posting about informatics in this forum and and honestly I am just getting my feet wet in the field. There are many here that are veterans and have shared their experience. You can definitely search the forums. I like it so far, especially because I've always been a tech-head. Also a very different perspective (I feel very corporatey) since Informatics affects the management of data throughout the whole hospital system. 

Thank you so much for the feedback.  It's greatly appreciated! I'm leaning towards the EHR clinical coordinator position.  Sparked my interest and the manager seemed great.  Plus it's close to home. Fingers crossed! ?

1 Votes
Specializes in Informatics, Critical Care, Case Management.
1 hour ago, JLA said:

Thank you so much for the feedback.  It's greatly appreciated! I'm leaning towards the EHR clinical coordinator position.  Sparked my interest and the manager seemed great.  Plus it's close to home. Fingers crossed! ?

Great!! I'm glad you chose Informatics. Hoping for the best for you!

1 Votes
+ Add a Comment