Case Management Nursing

Case management nursing is a long term concept that has successfully evolved into a professional model that is highly sensitive and responsive to contemporary practice demands. The multitude of issues posed by the evolving healthcare system necessitated case management nursing. The demographic changes in work force composition have compelled health care providers to restructure and be having innovative thinking of priorities related to delivery and management of patient care. The strength of case management nursing therefore comes from the philosophy and collaborative practice strategies of both primary and team nursing. Directing the proper delivery of patient care services allows nurses to foretell needs hence providing opportunities for general coordination and integration of results and cost (Cohen et al 150-290). Case management nursing integrates a lot of expatriate practice demands and initiatives behavior of alternative patient delivery system. So far different models of case management have come into being. Merill in the (Cohen 132) identified three major categories: primary care, social and medical-social.

Case management nurses on many occasions facilitate exemplary patient care incorporating fiscally responsive strategies aimed at achieving completely healthy living standards. They are also the people with the knowhow in obtaining the necessary resources. Case managers work with various stakeholders of health facilities like families, patients and other professionals. As noted earlier by (Casta and Taha 160-270), private or independent case managers operate in a dual advocacy role that is prone to risk. They are therefore supposed to be creative, savvy communicators and well organized to realize satisfactory to health facility and the patient. Case management incorporates the professional services offered by nurses, physicians and social workers in addition to other medical and some non-medical staff. Case managers have an important role of meeting their patient’s needs. They roll out plans for immediate and future care for their patients. With case management nurses, the quality of work is never compromised putting into good use all the available resources.

Weill and Karl in (Elaine et al 150-200) included very extensively main service components that are common in all case management models. These explain the distinctive roles intended upon every case manager to minimize the conflict of interest and foster uniformity and equity in service delivery. They need to be well informed in public and private insurance policies concerning healthcare. Nurses too incorporate admission and discharge of patients as their roles. Qualifications of practicing case management nursing, one has to be first being a registered nurse with good academic record of either a Bachelor’s degree or advanced nursing degree. However, many of them have a Diploma or Associate’s degree in nursing. Certification can also be acquired and is especially important in the case of insurance companies and hospitals. Case management nurses majorly enter into the field through training while working and advancing on their education in the community or online courses.

This high standard qualification enable case management nursing be equipped with nursing technique in planning, assessing, implementing and evaluating patient care and in using resources. Nurses supervise the quality of care and ensure that infection control, analyzing all the risks involved and all the necessary aspects of services are well catered for. Hospital case managers in most cases work with patients from other medical facilities like nursing homes and living facilities. Nurse case managers serves as advocates for families, insurance, patients and facilities. They work collaboratively with accident victims and hospice patients. Case managers facilitate intensive care of patients suffering from mental health or and substance abuse. Case managers coordinate medical services for children who need specialized care. Their work environment also involves the insurance industry and rehabilitation facilities. The community based work opportunities for nurse case managers involve working with hospice, disease management, home health, and more. Most case managers work eight hours a day from Monday to Friday with a few doing twelve hour and night shifts.

Case management work provides employment opportunities in both the urban and remote areas; those in the hobbies of field work also have such opportunities. Case managers should be able to make sense out of demanding regulations and have undoubted skills in using computers. They require skills in caring for patients taking into account different perspectives. Case managers have different capabilities hence their capacities also vary. They provide short term services while others may provide detailed assistance to patients and family members for longer periods of time. Normally the annual salary range for the Registered Nurses specializing in delivering case management nursing services is reasonable within every economic range of a nation. Thus job opportunities in the field increase at a very high rate. After decade of deep thinking, redesigning health care system and restructuring, case management nursing is the best delivery system of our time and for the future since it has moved the nursing to the front of service delivery in the world. The competition for employment opportunities maybe stiff. Case management nurses are normally the experienced nurses considering the work they are expected to do.

Works Cited

Armanasco, Virginia, Lois A. Hopkin, and Sue Harter. Collaborative nursing case management: a handbook for development and implementation. New York: Springer Pub. Co., 1993. Print. Cohen, Elaine L., and Toni G. Cesta. Nursing case management: from concept to evaluation. 2nd ed. St. Louis: Mosby, 1997. Print. Cohen, Elaine L., and Toni G. Cesta. Nursing case management: from essentials to advanced practice applications. 4th ed. St. Louis: Elsevier Mosby, 2005. Print. Flarey, Dominick L., and Suzanne Smith Blancett. Handbook of nursing case management: health care delivery in a world of managed care. Gaithersburg, Md.: Aspen Publishers, 1996. Print. More, Phyllis K., and Sandy Mandell. Nursing case management: an evolving practice. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997. Print.