Masters in Nursing

It will not matter what you get a masters in to become a nurse case manager because most employers hire those who have experience in Case Management. Employers will a hire nurse without experience in case management if he/she has 2-3 years of clinical work within a particular health care setting. Thus, if you are interested in becoming a case manager after obtaining an MSN attempt to get a job while in school even if it is part time. Also, there are MSN degrees in Case Management that may help to facilitate a job opportunity given you have to put in hours at the end of the degree that implements principles of Case Management in the clinical setting. Lastly, if you cannot find a job and will not get a degree in case management, try networking through the Case Management Society of America in your local community to find a job in case management: Case Management Society of America > Home

By the way, there are a few Certifications that employers like to see.... The eligibility requirement for the CCM can be found on the Commission for Case Management website: Eligibility Criteria | CCMC

Thank you!

You will not have the required experience to qualify for case management certification. Case management is a specialty, not unlike specializing in critical care or psychiatric nursing with eventual certification eligibility after demonstrating years of nursing proficiency. The BSN credential has not solved your employment dilemma, and neither will an MSN. My advice to you, unglamourous as it seems, is to obtain an entry level nursing job in any venue-hospital, LTAC, SNF-and get some real world experience. Case management practice requires enough nursing experience to acquire strong clinical assessment skills, the ability to multitask, confidence in dealing with a multidisciplinary team on a daily basis, and the ability to function autonomously under difficult conditions. The required experience to sit for the CCM or ACM credential can really only be obtained after years, not months, of nursing practice. I would also advise you actually shadow a working case management nurse if you are still interested after obtaining your prerequisite experience. I continue to be surprised at what people's impressions of what case management nursing is as opposed to what it actually entails. That said, I love it. I learn new things every day and it's an amazing challenge to provide patients with what they need to move through the care continuum in today's health care environment.

Thank you JVLims. I appreciate your response but I neglected to add I have 18years hospital experience that includes critical care and case management. I am hoping something will work out for me. Again thank you!

If you feel you need a MSN, get the broadest degree you can find. I shopped for a BSN program, with the intent to add the MSN, but couldn't find a single curriculum that I felt would make me a better nurse. I ended up getting a BBA in Health Care Admin and an MBA in Health Care management. Worked well for me, employers, especially those on the admin side of healthcare love to hire nurses who can look at the big picture. My advice would be to look for a dual MSN program that also offers something on the non-clinical side of the fence - MSN/MBA, MSN/Infomatics, MSN/Education. The more hats you can wear, the more valuable you are to an employer.