All Entries Tagged With: "nurses"

A nurse is more than just a nurse

Editor’s note: The following article is republished with permission from our sister site the ACDIS Blog. I think the author’s thoughts on the evolution of a nursing career will ring true for many Case Management Mentor readers.

By Kimberly Richert RN, CCDS

I recently read two articles, the first about the shortage of nurses, and the second about a shortage of nursing jobs. These articles made me think about my present job in clinical documentation improvement, and how I ended up here. This is the best job I have ever had, and I do have to thank God everyday for it.

Looking back to when I started my nursing career, I never knew then that there were so many opportunities in the nursing field. I never knew this is where I would be after 20 years of nursing. I do remember thinking that I would never need to go to school again. Wow, was I wrong.

Through nursing school, you are taught how to do hands-on patient care, from the basics on how to give a bed bath, and caring for the patient, to the critical thinking necessary to help solve healthcare problems as they emerge. All this learning affords new nurses a set of skill to build on.

You start out in an area that will hire a brand new nurse. As you know, not all areas of the hospital will hire you, unless you have the experience. So at the beginning of your career, you take what you can get. After you have some experience under your belt, you are able to get into those areas that really interest you. You get into a specialty that really keeps your job fun and interesting. You fit into a group of people you just love to work with. You form friendships that last a lifetime. This is the best part of life. Your nursing career has given you a way to make it through this crazy world.

Now, you must remember your education will never end. Even when you are finished with nursing school, you are constantly learning. You can go into fields where you do not perform direct patient care, like clinical documentation improvement, but remember that your nursing background is the basis of your new specialty.
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Speak up: CMSA urges case managers to contact local legislators

You may have heard, but Congress is attempting to enact some type of healthcare reform in the near future. Although the extent of that reform is still up for debate, the conversation about how to improve the current healthcare model is not going away.

What better way to celebrate National Case Management Week than to contact your local legislator and tell him or her about how case managers can improve the healthcare system?

Healthcare reform will have a huge impact on the way you do your job, which is why The CSMA Public Policy Committee is encouraging case managers to speak up and share their experiences.

“We want case managers to share their stories with their local legislators,” said Carol A. Gleason, MM, RN, CRRN, CCM, LRC, BCPC Chair of the CMSA Public Policy Committee.

Gleason says she and the committee are not asking people to talk politics, but rather share what works with the current model and what needs improvement. The idea is that if case managers and other healthcare professionals share their wealth of knowledge with lawmakers, who have likely never worked in a hospital, than our government will be better equipped to create reform that works.

You can also think of it as another form of patient advocacy. Case mangers know how the system affects certain populations because they deal with difficult case everyday. This is a chance to tell the story about the time it broke your heart to tell someone, “I’m sorry but that’s just how the system works.”

The Case Management Model Act

The public policy committee has also created a Case Management Model Act which defines the case management role and explains how the case management principles can be the building blocks for successful healthcare reform. You can download a copy of the Model Act at the CSMA Web site. While you are there, check out the sample letter you can send to your representative and the list of talking points you can use to call him or her directly.

Clinical Social Worker (CSW) or Registered Nurse (RN)?

Effective working relationships between nurses and social workers are the foundation of effective patient care management. Both disciplines bring value and there own unique perspective to the patient/family situation. But philosophical differences, and unclear role delineations can sometimes disrupt collaboration among the two.

HCPro has offered two audio conferences devoted to this subject. Where do you sit on the case management spectrum? Are you an RN or a LCSW?