Experience and Degree

CM's in our area all have Master's, at least at my hospital we do. I live in the Medwest. I would say, mimimum clinical experience would we 10 years. Med surg, critical care, would be good, although honestly, a variety of clinical experiences is the best. I have worked med-surg, OR, OB and Psych, and those different clinical experiences have served me well as a CM. Hope that helps, and GOOD LUCK!

It depends on what area of case management you are interested in. For Worker's Comp and Insurance case management you do NOT need a MSN. To work in a hospital setting, it depends on your location and the hospital. Some teaching hospitals require an MSN; smaller hospitals will take a BSN. You need experience in the area of CM in which you will be working. For W/C neuro and ortho is good, but for disease management (like Healthways, HMC, BCBS), strong med-surg or home health is necessary. I know in Nashville, some MSN CNS's are working as case managers.Hope this helps a little. For example, since I have tons of W/C CM exp., I really am not a good candidate for a hospital CM position, unless I finish my MSN

Thanks for the info. Ok, so if you have to get an MSN, what do you get it in? For example, at my school you can get a Masters to be a nurse educator, an NP, or a CRNA.

I would recommend NP... CRNA won't help you get into CM... you would just do anesthesia, which is also high paying, but high risk. For anesthesia programs here you have to have two years critical care, before they will even consider you. I would say, go for the advanced degree, it will soon enough be required, don't kid yourself on that. Get some clinical experience, med surg, critical care, or OR... all those would be useful, maybe then you may have a better idea what you might want to specialize in. Hope that helps.

1. i don't think there is a definite answer, other than the more the better.

2. again, the clinical experience required depends largely on the area of cm you want to get into. obviously, if you are interested in managing cancer pts, oncology experience is essential. if you are looking at something broader, i would agree with the other posters who suggested med/surg, critical care etc. i would also suggest that home health would help you to learn the needs of the client outside the hospital.

3. i have an asn with bsn pending. in my niche, msns are rare. i'm thinking of going mph personally. i cannot speak to the requirements of hospital cms, since i have no experience in that arena. i also live in the midwest.

guess that wasn't really helpful was it, what you need depends largely on what you want to do. good luck!

No, that was really helpful! I have a much better idea of what it's about now. I just need to get through school, and go out and find a clinical area I enjoy and get to be expert at it. Is there a need for CM's, are jobs plentiful?

well, i'll be interested to see what others have to say. i was lucky enough to land the first cm job i applied for. but what i am hearing is that finding a cm job can be a challenge. most cms enjoy their job, and the turnover seems to be less than in other areas of nursing.

The hospital I work at requires a minimum BSN with 5 years clinical experience. I, too, landed the first CM job I applied for. I started in January and Love it!!

Alot depends on what type of Case Mangement your are pursuing. Most Case Managers are RNs who hold anywhere from Diploma, ASN, BSN, MSN an advanced degree is NOT required for all positions. Some "Case Managers" are not nurses they are masters prepared social workers, there are also LVN case managers. Often Case Manager is the term used for home health nurses. There are hospital based CM, home health CM, Insurance and Work Comp CM the list goes on. Depending on the type of CM you are pursing It could require just a couple years of general acute nursing experience. What type of Case Management are you interested in? :typing

Hi,

I have been an RN going on 4 years in June. I have 1 year experience at the bedside and the other 2 years in Utilization Review and the past 6 months as a work at home CM for a Managed Care company. On Friday, I landed a PT CM position at a local hospital and will be starting in a couple of weeks. My hope is to sit for the CCM exam in April 2010, giving me plenty of time to study and learn of the job.

I was always told I needed to have x amount of years of experience in this and that before specializing in a field away from the bedside. However, where there's a will, there's a way. Apply until you get an interview and blow their socks off with your motivation and eagerness to learn a new skill. If experience was the only qualification to landing a job, I obviously would still be on the hospital floor breaking my back. Good luck

I have a BSN with only 6 years clinical experience (float RN, tele, DOU, psych, med/surg). My CM co-workers seems to have years of clinical experience, some have AA degrees, others have BSN. Nobody has MSN or NP. I lucked out and was trained in CM b/c department was desperate for help. Go talk to the managers in the CM department, let them know you would be interested in training. My job is complicated and busy. I'm suppose to work 8 hrs per day but often work 9 or more hrs. The job is demanding working as a CM in the acute care enviroment.