Offered Clinical manager Position--need advice

[iamarn]

Hello. I have been a HH nurse since September 2006. The office I work out of is fairly small. There is only a full-time LPN and me and a PRN nurse that work out of the office. recently our census has increased. We currently have been under the director of another agency about 30 miles from us and we have clinical manager in our office. Since our census is up, the company has decided to make our clinical manager director of our office. They have offered me the clinical manager's position this week. My Clinical manager spoke with me about it and stated that usually they wouldn't offer a clincal manager's position to someone who was fairly new to HH but I caught on to all the OASIS quickly that they think I am capable of doing the job. She couldn't tell me about pay b/c she stated that she had never done field visits for the company that we work for, she came in straight as a clinical manager but she thought that it would be a pay cut for me to take the position. She said that they wanted to offer me the position before looking outside the company. I told her I would let her know in the next week. I like my patient contact but all of the paperwork that I am having to do at home is getting really old and also the fact that I drive over 100 miles everyday. Does anyone know the salary range of a new clinical manager? Any advice would be greatly appreciated also. Thanks in advance!

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

I think it's a question of whether or not you're capable not how much experience you have. I've been in HH for less than 3 months and my Team Leader(like a clinical manager) is already telling me I should apply for the open Team Leader spot. I have 10+years of management experience and she says that's what you need...that and an eye for detail..oh and 6 months in the field. If you want the job you should go for it. You can always go back to the field if it doesn't work out.

[DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN]

I like my patient contact but all of the paperwork that I am having to do at home is getting really old and also the fact that I drive over 100 miles everyday.

The clinical manager position has it's own unique set of issues which also get old pretty fast. I'd rather be driving and be away from it all (the office).

[cookie102]

having done both (in the field and clinical manager) i think being in the field is the place to be....in the clinical manager role you are caught in the middle of the field staff and the management....it is very hard to ask your team to do things that the management says to do, when you know the reality of what it is like in the field ---best wishes to you,

[caliotter3]

Although I never personally spoke to her about her decision, one of my clinical supervisors went to case work because she no longer wanted to be a supervisor. At one agency, our CS was only paid $3 an hr more than some of the field staff. I agree with those who said they would prefer to be out of being in the middle between mgmt and the worker bees. A big consideration would be how you handle conflict. You are the one who usually gets all the complaints from the patients and field staff and get caught up in, sometimes, impossible situations. As for me, I think I would rather do patient care. Good luck in your decision.