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This is a late reply but wanted to share some tips. I have only been a RN for a few years but new going into it that bedside nursing was not my goal but knew I had to put in the time. Well, a year into bedside nursing, I applied for a PRN Home Health/Hospice nurse but kept my day job. A year later when I couldn't take bedside nursing anymore, the HH agency offered me a Case Management position which I accepted. An although I enjoyed the job, a year later I was done being a field nurse visiting patients and applied for an insurance case management position which I now have been doing for the past 2 years and I absolutely love it. So it may take a few steps to get to where you want to be but work hard, don't burn any bridges, and take as many CEUs where you have weakness in to show your determination to improve yourself... this is what future employers look for. Take and good luck!

I love CM... there are many different areas you can go into. Salary depends on what area you live but it's about 60,000 - 80,000. Several positions here on the West Coast post salaries about 80,000. Kaiser Permanente just posted a CM salary $88,000-111,000!... I work from home and they set up a home office for the CM. Not all CM's with Aetna are home office though but many have potential to transition to home.

Hi Christdied4us310, We have about the same years of nursing experience. I have not been in nursing too long but set out to pursue working in a professional office nursing environment and I did it. Most of the CM positions I see whether its office or home based require about 3 yrs nursing experience and prefers CM experience. I worked less than a yr as a home health CM before applying to ins companies and then I started getting calls from Aetna, Liberty Mutual, and others for interviews. A little exposure to any type of CM wouldn't hurt. I would definitely try applying for positions at this point... I just saw a Behavioral Health RN CM position posted and it did ask for at least 4 yrs of experience and your almost there. Don't forget to look into CM Workers Comp or Disability positions as well. Again, just look out for high case loads! APS Healthcare and Coventry Healthcare are also hiring... if they are in your area. What's nice is if you get into a CM position and don't like it, you can transfer around positions w/in the company. Aetna asks that you don't leave them but move internally to what is a better fit. Take care and good luck!

Hi there, this link might be helpful in answering some of your questions: https://allnurses.com/case-management-nursing/telephonic-case-management-318232.html Good luck... lots of great jobs out there!

Oops forgot to post link to benefits: http://www.aetna.com/about-aetna-insurance/aetna-careers/benefits/index.html

Hi MissRNurse, I am happy to answer questions... When I started nursing school, during rotations, I realized I enjoyed nursing positions that gave me independence and autonomy. When I started working in a hospital setting, I enjoyed the patient interaction but not the surroundings. Maybe that's why I enjoyed PACU so much more than med/surg type units because of that autonomy 1:1 with the pt. I picked up a PRN home health/hospice position and then after a few months, turned my home health to a full time case management and hospital position to prn. After a year of being a "road warrior" and working part home office, I was ready to move on to case mgmt in the office. I researched several different companies and notice many of them were actively hiring RNs. Aetna, Wellpointe, Cigna, and United are the big boys. Wellpointe is not located in my area but I actually hear good things about the others. Aetna is good to work for, including the pay but the benefits are not so great. I will post a link to their latest health benefits which are posted to the public on their website. I think having any type of exposure to case mgmt will help but others have been hired w/o that background. Insurance companies just want to make sure you understand the big difference in working bedside nursing vs. office setting. It's rare but a few RNs turn around and go back to bedside nursing. But majority will tell you that they will never leave the comfort of their home office or business office setting. Make sure you do your research on the company and it's position so if you get that interview, they will know what your getting yourself into. Look out for high case loads and micromanagers. It's ok to ask what management style do they use... I did. OK this is getting long. I believe your chances are good since there is an increase in these positions. Similar positions: RN Wellness coach, Disease Managers, Case Managers, Patient Care Coordinators. Good luck!

Hi tdncRN, I have only been with Aetna for a short time but have read from others that have worked there that they also thought it was a great company... which is one of the reasons why I joined them. Like you, I worked in various settings, in fact, I still stay prn for PACU... I guess I am a little nervous of completely leaving bedside nursing... I am liking case management more and more each day. I deal a lot with complex medical cases and disease management... it really is like prevention, maintenance, and health promotion. Many patients/members enjoy the contact from a nurse since it's a free benefit to them to speak with a health professional. Aetna has most of their nurses work from home so if you don't want a home office, you may want to look into another company. And speaking of another company... The demand for case managers/disease managers are on the rise. I see positions posted more and more for these type of wellness coaching... which is what I enjoy doing. As for Utilization Review Nurses... they don't have much contact with members/patients. They most work on discharge planning with the hospital or facilities... not my cup of tea. Make sure you stay close to or below 70 cases... I started with 50 case which is great and unheard of but I'm moving up in numbers but Aetna is striving for high employee satisfaction so they are trying to keep us happy whenever possible. I had 3 mos of orientation which was excellent. Overall, Aetna is a great place to work but health benefits could be better but I guess the great pay helps make up for it. Hope this helps. Feel free to send more questions to me.

Hi there. That's a tough one... I think you are lucky to have a job that you enjoy. Although you are looking for a challenging hospital position, in this economy you might want to sit still till recovery takes place. I think hospitals will start looking at you when the economy improves. Another suggestion is, moving to the southern states where they hire new grads and nurses looking to switch specialties. I moved from OK/TX area where they are hiring and even still paying hiring bonuses and moving expenses. This might be an opportunity for you to get into the hospital environment. Another thought is... the grass always seems greener on the other side... you might actually have it pretty good. Many hospital nurses would love to have a day job with no nights, holidays or weekends (if your office is typical). If you would like the name of those hospitals in the south let me know and I will post it... Good luck!

Quick tip: When you go in for interviews never put down a current employer or say negative things about your position... always sound grateful for all the opportunities you've had but that you are ready to move on:-) And do your research on case management... don't tell them that this will work for your family life (even though it will) focus on your desire to do this line of work and why. My supervisor said she hired me because I did the research and new what I was getting myself into vs other applicants.

I know that feeling of not liking your job and it's a terrible feeling. Good for you for trying to get out of the situation. I was in bedside nursing and just found I wanted a different environment. I new during nursing school that I was attracted to the idea of being a case manager ... I like disease management. But in order to get in the door I needed more experience so I was hired into a home health/hospice case manager position. It worked out so well with my kids schedule too. I was able to drop them, pick them up, be home during dinner and weekends w/ just minimal on-call. After a year, I applied to ins companies and I received interviews to 3 different companies. I was offered a position which I am in now and I love it... it seems to be a trend with increasing need for wellness coaches/disease management. I love being in an environment that is low stress, good pay, works with my family life, and still has it's challenges. I hope this info helps. Hang in there and don't give up finding that area that will make you look forward to going to work. Good luck!

I work from home with an ins company but it's fulltime. I do know there is an occassional parttime position available but requires at least 24 hrs a week. I was thinking a prn "advice nurse" position would be ideal. You can google that position for your area and see what pops up... it may or may not be from home but it should be low stress and doable hours. If you can't find anything at home, maybe you can drop to parttime at NICU and find a prn position elsewhere like a daysurgery ctr where there hours are no nights, weekends, or holidays.

GrnTea couldn't have said it any better! None of the telework nurses I work with said they could never imagine going back into a hospital or office... once at home there's no going back:-) ... can you imagine all the gas money you'll be saving.

Hi there... congratulations on your job offer with United Healthcare which I hear is great to work for. I am a case manager for another Ins company and have a home office. It is my first time working from home and was a little worried but it has worked out great. I login in AM, drop my kids off at school on my first morning break. Have lunch when I'm hungry then pick up my kids during my afternoon break. Today I had to unexpectedly step away and get my child at school when the school called because she was sick so I was pleased to have job which allowed me the freedom to do that. I am salaried, is your position salaried or paid hourly? If so, you have more freedom on when you work example: If I work overtime on Monday, I would work less hours on Tuesday. I normally log in about 7:30 and off at 4:30 sometimes a little earlier or later. I am not on the phone all day. I have complex cases so I usually do research on a member/pt for 30 min to an hour then hope to reach them. If so, I can expect a 5 min conversation or an hour. Time seems to pass quickly. You mentioned you have a great office job right now... why are you looking to leave? Oh, what is your case load expected to be? Good luck... sounds like you have some good choices no matter which decision you make:-)

Hi, I've been working in Hospice for almost 2 years. What I normally do is call or fax my written order to the patients's pcp for a signature. If I don't hear back quickly then I call my medical director for the order. In my state, all narcotics need a written or physician verbal order. RNs are unable to call in a verbal order on narcotics. For over the counter or non narcotic meds, I do write the order to start or d/c a med. Lots of autonomy in the line of nursing... I enjoy it but am also very careful. If I start or d/c anything, I call and leave a message telling the pcp of the pt what has happened regards to meds. Most pcps wash their hands of hospice pts and rely on our expertise to take control. Hope this helps.

@ BW853: I am case manager for Aetna and get paid more than any hospital or clinical job I ever had. The turnover is low because of the high job satisfaction but that may be just with Aetna since I am hearing that BCBS is not such a good place to work. The case load is 55 - 60 pts and majority of all nurses and executive positions have home based offices. I love it and was ready to leave bedside nursing... it is so physically taxing. I feel like a professional and I'm treated that way without the gossip, politics, and back stabbing that I once felt working at hospitals ... sad but true. Some of my peers from the hospital are looking to switch over to case management as well. United Health care is another home based promoting company. Good luck to all.

Hi Miss Brittany, I only had orientation for 3 months w/ a preceptor... I started back in August so although I am officially off of orientation, I still insist on having someone by my side during certain procedures such as: femoral arterial pressure line setup... don't want any air in those lines. Like yourself, I loved my exposure to the CCL during school and had a great interest in cardiac but did not necessarily see myself starting out in this department... in this economy, we had to grab what we could and we both lucked out. I can see working in this department long term and if that is the case, I think the experience will be very valuable... kind of a mix of critical care/outpt type of environment. I am attending a two day EKG class onsite next month and reviewing the book on my own... so I'm with you regarding learning the cardiac rhythms. I had to get my ACLS prior to accepting the position... did you have to do the same? Well, good luck! I think we are going to be just fine starting out in CCL recovery, in fact, probably better than fine:-))

Dan, I am a fairly new nurse that was able to get a job this past year. I contribute that to working externships, student nurse/tech positions throughout school gaining valuable experience... volunteer if you have too. I did an externship during school in the ED, ICU, and Cardiac and was offered a position in all three units. I ended up taking a job in the Cardiac Cath Lab... keep that unit in mind... it's a intense rewarding environment! Good luck!

Hi there, I just had to find out how you were doing after a couple of weeks since your post?? Like yourself, I had a difficult time finding a job but a new grad position in the Cardiac Cath Pre and Post Intervention Unit opened up, I applied, and was offered the position... I absolutely love it. I can see why the staff turnover is low compared to the rest of the hospital or other units. I oriented in the cardiac step down unit for a couple of weeks and if that opportunity presents itself to you, definitely go for it... it was great experience but it was nice to have returned to back to the recovery unit!

I am a new grad and was offered a position and was told the ratio was 1 nurse to 7-9 patients... I walked away and took another position at a different hospital that offers 1 to 3... it's out there and you need to leave that dangerous situation. Good luck!