cosmicmama

Hi, I have an MBA and a BSN, I work for a Fortune 50 health insurance company as a manager in case management. I have more education than all of my leadership team members, some of whom only have associate degrees but have been around forever. The MBA isn't doing me a bit of good and didn't have anything to do with my getting this entry-level management position, it was my tenure and experience with the company that did that. I'm pretty frustrated because I have the student loan debt to contend with and can't seem to get out of this "nurse manager" bucket I've worked myself in to. I have the MBA and am gifted at data analysis so would love to go into the reporting side of things, but because I'm a nurse manager and don't have the official experience to back up a change in course, I can't seem to get out of this linear path I'm on. This is a huge company with tons of opportunity, but tenure and knowing people seems to be the way up the ladder for those of us who are already here. I don't think my MBA is worth the paper it's printed on, and am currently pursuing an MSN in Leadership and Management from WGU. I wish I had done that instead of the MBA to begin with. Something else I didn't consider...with my 30+ years of nursing experience and BSN, I can't teach nursing classes part-time after retirement without the MSN. I would like to teach a bit after retirment...but I can't teach nursing with the MBA, and I can't teach business unless I can add something other than nurse and nurse manager to my resume. Just my thoughts.

What kind of case management will you be doing? Inpatient?

I can't believe no one has answered you. Try the big insurance companies, like United Healthcare, Anthem, Cigna, Aetna, and Humana. With your critical care experience, you should be an attractive candidate for a telephonic case manager or UM position. Good luck!

I agree about the abnormal thing, hence the quotations. :) Thanks for your input!

I've been a nurse for nearly 30 years. I've done my share of night shift, around 15 years total. About five years ago I left the bedside to do case management for an insurance company, and while working from home has been nice, the work doesn't feed my soul and I find it incredibly tedious and boring. Also, I have gotten a couple of masters degrees while working with this company, and I'm ready to move into nursing leadership but I just don't see a niche that I would enjoy in the industry that I am currently in. I would like to go back into acute care. I have 13 years of labor and delivery experience and I am interviewing for a night shift assistant nurse manager position at a large teaching hospital. I feel this would get me back into the hospital, get me started on acute care nursing leadership, and get my foot in the door for more opportunities in a field that I loved. However I am nervous about going back to night shift after all these years. I'm just wondering if I'm going to be able to manage it for a year or two until other opportunities open up. Has anyone else gone back to night shift after being a "normal person" for several years, particularly if you are a little older?

Hi all, I'm a telephonic CM for a large insurance company, and I'd like to branch out and get some more diverse CM experience so I can do travel nursing in a few years (I travelled in the past as an L&D nurse, and always said I would do it again when my kids were grown). My job is pretty low-stress, but boring as hell and I feel like I am at a dead-end. I am scheduled for an interview as an inpatient case manager for a large medical center near here next week. The position requires BSN, MSN preferred. I have my BSN and MBA, halfway through with MSN, and I have the CCM certification. I am excited about doing something new and getting out of the house (I have been working from home for four years), but I am afraid that the position won't pay enough for it to make sense. I am currently making in the low 80's with salaries and yearly bonus, and I live in eastern NC where the nursing pay is fairly low. I make quite a bit more than staff nurses do around here. Can anyone give me any ideas on what inpatient CM's make relative to staff nurses? I know "it depends", but hoping to gain some insight. Side note: a couple of months ago I interviewed with this same health system for a nurse informaticist position. It was a long, tedious interview process and in the end I found out I was going to have to take a sizable pay cut to get into informatics with this company. That is why I am concerned about the pay for inpatient case management.

And meanwhile, the number of nurses I have encountered in my career who are functional alcoholics is astounding. It is definitely BS that a nurse can be burned at the stake for smoking a joint while on vacation...but what can you do? Got to play by the rules if you want to practice nursing.

Screw him, honey. You have a wonderful career ahead of you. Throw yourself into your future. One day you're going to be a successful nurse and he's going to realize how he screwed up, and then you will want to laugh in his face. I went through a divorce with a 2 year old when I was in nursing school, and was broke as hell. That was almost 30 years ago and I can't believe I was so heartbroken over that fool. Point is, look forward. You will get through this and be a stronger person. My mantra has always been....DON'T LOOK BACK. Just keep going, girl. Hugs.

Try Anthem.com, United Healthcare, Aetna. I work for one of the big three listed above, and have worked in government business (Medicaid and Medicare) and in the commercial division. "For those who work from home are you able to travel while doing this and work from wherever you are or do you have to stay in your home city?" One position I had, I had a cell phone and a laptop, so I could travel and work at the same time. The position I have now, I have a desktop connected to wired internet and a Voip modem, so no, I can't travel. I can't even leave my desk. So the answer is, it depends on the company and the department. Even within the same company, different divisions have different set-ups. " I live in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania and there aren't many job opportunities here. I'm willing to travel frequently if I need to go in office, but is it possible to work in another area or state or is this frowned upon? " Again, depends. I had to leave my Medicaid CM job because the state changed the contract, saying all CM's in that plan needed to live in-state. Now I'm in commercial. I live in NC, my office is in Maine, I have multiple licenses and have members all over the country. "Do you like it?" Again, depends. There are pros and cons, but in my current role everything is very micro-managed, productivity is measured, calls are recorded, and I feel like a glorified customer service rep. So no, I don't like it now. I've been doing this work-from-home thing for four years, the work isn't particularly satisfying but the pros outweighed the cons for quite a while. Now, I'm thinking of going back to the hospital in a management or IP case management role. It is difficult to get into, as you can imagine every burned-out nurse in the country wants to work from home...but with CM experience you should be able to find a position. Just keep an eye on the big three and keep applying, you'll eventually land an interview. There's no way to know if you will like it until you do it.

Lakegirl, it is in the Work at Home agreement, only cable and DSL hard-wired internet allowed. It's a security and a reliability thing. Well, this is a really old thread. I've been in my case management job with Anthem for almost four years. There have definitely been ups and downs, and I haven't stayed in the same department. I was at first hired for a position with a new product in government business (Medicare, Medicaid), and that went from being pleasantly unorganized and very loosely managed to being extremely stressful and micromanaged as the program progressed. Now I am in the commercial insurance division, and it is mostly low-stress but boring, with me feeling like a glorified customer service rep a lot of the time. I have also found it difficult to move up in the company as case management seems to be a dead-end job here, although I have gotten nice raises and bonuses over the years and the benefits are great. I have managed to earn my MBA and am working on my MSN while being employed here, hoping it will help me to break out of case management prison...otherwise there are several career nurses working on my team who are perfectly happy to ride out the rest of their days until retirement talking on the phone to 12-15 members a day. So what I have learned....experiences in this type of position vary from terrible to wonderful, and it depends on a lot of factors. Not only what company you work for, but what division you work for and their policies, and even your direct manager can make the difference in being happy or being miserable. What you want out of your career....if you are sick of bedside nursing then you are probably going to be ecstatic with this position for a couple of years, then you may or may not start to become bored or disillusioned, and you may even start to fantasize about going back to the bedside (believe it or not, I've seen it time and again and it has even happened to me). If you are upwardly mobile, as in trying to advance in your career, you may be disappointed in the lack of opportunities to move up, unless you are one of the lucky ones that it happens to effortlessly. Unfortunately, the promotions don't seem to be based on ability and performance, but moreso on who you know and friends looking out for friends. And if you think you are going to be able to take care of your kids or schedule your day the way you want it, you are wrong. Your time is very managed, and there are productivity standards to meet (numbers) in addition to quality. You will be tied to your computer and your headset all day long, so make sure your office is a space that isn't torture to sit in for eight hours. Physically, yes I don't break my back with patients and I sleep like a baby at night, but I have developed carpal tunnel in both hands and a pinched nerve in my neck from sitting at a computer for 4 years. I also gained 20 pounds the first year, now I wear a fitbit and I go out to walk morning, lunch, and night to get in my steps because otherwise, this is the most sedentary job you can imagine. Lots of things to consider, and there are definitely pros and cons. I hope this helps!

Thanks all, I declined the offer. It seemed like a great facility with happy staff, but my gut was telling me not to do it. Appreciate the words.

Hi all.....after 22 years of diverse nursing experience, I am thinking of taking a DON position at a gorgeous 146-bed SNF near my home. I recently graduated with my MBA in Healthcare Management, which is why they called me for an interview in spite of my very sporifice LTC experience (I did ADON/MDS for a couple of years MANY moons ago). I am also interviewing for management positions in my current company, but really have no idea whether they are going to pan out or not. I am very qualified for these positions, but the division I work in is very cliquish. I work for a HUGE Fortune 50 health insurance company as a case manager. I have never been in love with my job, but I have been able to work from home so I've tolerated it. Right now I am kind of hating it, and am trying to move up the ranks and get out from under my oppressive director. I have never known a masters-prepared nurse to be DON of a LTC facility in my area. I wonder if I am over-educated for this position and will I not be able to meet my earning potential if I take the DON job. I mean, will I be pigeonholed into DON jobs for the rest of my career? With my technical abilities, MBA, and decades of nursing experience I know that I have the potential to make a lot of money one day. The DON position to me feels like a great way to get that "director" on my resume and round out my experience a little more. However I'm concerned that I might get stuck in that position and hurt my potential for growth in the future. Any insight is appreciated.

Hi all...I've been a nurse for decades, I'm asking this for my daughter in law. We (the entire family) want to move to a beach town that is an hour from the nearest college with a nursing program. The problem is my DIL wants to go to nursing school. Are there any programs that are totally online, for someone who is NOT a nurse currently?

After being a nurse for over 20 years, I completed my BSN at WGU in 2013. I'm now doing my MBA in Healthcare Management there as well. WGU is legit! Very affordable, non-profit, and you will get a good education. The BSN was easy for me, all those years of experience really helped me. The MBA is kicking my butt, lol.

Vabeacnurse, Yes, you should get a phone. Some of the people in orientation with me hadn't gotten their phones, then they had to scramble to get it and set it up when they got home from on-site training so they could take part in on-the-job-training I would call and ask about it.