Downside to accepting management position?

[jrn1315]

I've been an RN/BSN for over 2 years now and have worked as a bedside nurse in the same SNF/LTC facility since I received my license. I would eventually like to work at a hospital but my family situation is such that hospital schedules pretty much won't work for us, at least for the next year or two. Today my administrator offered me a care management position and while everything about it looks ideal (pay raise, normal Monday through Friday hours, less stress with my family's schedule, plus I will still have plenty of interactions with the patients) I'm worried that being off of the floor may hamper my efforts in a few years to find a hospital job. Anyone else have experience with working in management and then moving on to acute bedside nursing, and did you feel that it either helped or hindered you when you applied for a hospital job?

[anon456, BSN, RN]

I am not a manager so I am not qualified to answer some of your questions. I do work with a nurse who used to do critical care at bedside but now manages an outpatient clinic. She picks up two shifts a month as a bedside nurse to keep her skills up. She says she loves the outpatient clinic because they work with a very specialized group of patients, but she also enjoys bedside. I think she has found a good balance that will help her have freedom to choose her future and not be stuck in a particular role.

[Caffeine_IV]

I think it depends on your location. Do the local employers value that LTC/SNF experience or do they group all non-hospital experience in the same bucket?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Since I personally dislike hands-on procedural skills and bedside care, I couldn't care less if I never received an acute care hospital job during my entire nursing career.

A downside to accepting a managerial SNF position is the possibility that your hands-on procedural skills might become somewhat rusty. To counteract this, I concur with a previous respondent's suggestion to obtain a PRN bedside position.

[PulmNP25, BSN, RN]

Are you able to get a perdiem job in the hospital where you could work one shift a month?

[MunoRN, RN]

Keep in mind there is a huge difference between an hourly management position with a pay raise and a salaried management position with a "pay raise". At places where I've worked, a move to management usually means a pretty massive pay cut, since the pay rate is only a raise if you only work 40 hours/week, although in reality the expectation is closer to 60. Being on-call for staff shortages is also sort of a pain. We've got a rotating manager coverage for staffing who gives every manager 1 weekend off per month from being on call, which means you can only go out and have a glass of wine or beer once a month (I go out to eat more for a good IPA on tap than for the food).

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Please explain the role of care management.