Do I like Case Management

I am a case manager in a large hospital and have a total of about 3 years experience in two separate facilities. To address your post, I work as a discharge planner and rotate holidays with the other case managers. It works out to about one holiday a year but Christmas and Thanksgiving are covered by an on-call person. At my previous hospital, we did call on those two holidays also, but had a much smaller staff and had to cover a few more holidays but we were salary and did not work a full 8 hours on those holidays. Our UR department is off on holidays since most insurance companies close. We do have admission case managers who work round the clock to look at admission criteria and they have to work all holidays. So my point is holidays will be dependent on which part of case management you get into.

As a discharge planner, I do not sit at a desk all day. I have to go to patient rooms to complete discharge planning assessments, round with physicians, meet with nurses, etc. I wear out a pair of shoes regularly. :) I do sit at a desk to make referrals to facilities for placement, look at medical criteria, and fax out orders for home health/infusion/DME, though. It feels like a nice balance for me and I really like my job.

If you want to do utilization review, you will be sitting at a desk quite a bit because it is computer and phone based. Same thing with our admission case managers.

It isn't for everyone, but I have found my place in nursing and plan on staying in this type of position for the rest of my career.

Good luck deciding!!

Thank you

I am a case manager in a large hospital and have a total of about 3 years experience in two separate facilities. To address your post, I work as a discharge planner and rotate holidays with the other case managers. It works out to about one holiday a year but Christmas and Thanksgiving are covered by an on-call person. At my previous hospital, we did call on those two holidays also, but had a much smaller staff and had to cover a few more holidays but we were salary and did not work a full 8 hours on those holidays. Our UR department is off on holidays since most insurance companies close. We do have admission case managers who work round the clock to look at admission criteria and they have to work all holidays. So my point is holidays will be dependent on which part of case management you get into.

As a discharge planner, I do not sit at a desk all day. I have to go to patient rooms to complete discharge planning assessments, round with physicians, meet with nurses, etc. I wear out a pair of shoes regularly. :) I do sit at a desk to make referrals to facilities for placement, look at medical criteria, and fax out orders for home health/infusion/DME, though. It feels like a nice balance for me and I really like my job.

If you want to do utilization review, you will be sitting at a desk quite a bit because it is computer and phone based. Same thing with our admission case managers.

It isn't for everyone, but I have found my place in nursing and plan on staying in this type of position for the rest of my career.

Good luck deciding!!

I'm glad to hear someone likes their career path.

I have been a case manager for 7 years. I started in LTAC, then acute care and now insurance. Each setting provided a lot of learning opportunity and growth. Of the three I think I like insurance best. I love being a case manager. I too will likely work in this field until I retire.

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L8RRN, I think it is great you work in a capacity where you do not do both discharge planning and admissions.... I did not know that there was such a thing in the hospital setting until your post! :)

OP: The hospitals where I work combine the roles described by L8RRN as well as that of a UR nurse. We have a few UR nurses that only perform UR, but most of the CM staff perform all three roles. Thus, sitting at a desk most of the day is not an option for most. In fact, OP if you were working for my two employers as a CM you will be on your feet, on the phone (cell), and on the go most of your shift. You can take a break (30 minute lunches), but similar to being a bedside nurse in a setting with no break RN, you may just end up shoving food into your mouth and running back to the floor. As for 15s???? Well, those are potty breaks rather than organized breaks, if you are the type to take those too. Holidays? Every hospital I have worked requires CMs to work 2 Minor holidays and 1 Major. We also work at least 4 weekend days per month.

I continue to be a CM because as is the case with anything in nursing, it is hard to switch out of one specialty to explore another. Also, as one becomes more experienced in his/her specialty, one is more valuable to employers/recruiters and I have experienced more money and had a few doors open for me sticking to my work as a CM. In fact, now I am a well paid UR Per Diem nurse.

Will I be doing this forever? No, because I am pursuing career growth in nursing management and so in due time I will be in a position where I will not be able to work two and three jobs, where two of my three jobs are Per Diem. On the other hand, I think CM is a very good specialty to work and retire for specific skilled and personality types. For example, if you enjoy coordinating care and connecting patients to resources, I think you will enjoy the fast pace of the hospital setting as well as your exposure to what the hospital setting offers. :) Good luck. :)