Case Manager: A Career As A Hospital Nurse

In 1979, Nancy Huggett obtained her Associates Degree in Nursing (ADN) though Norwalk community College. She currently works as a registered nurse (RN) in a local acute care center in Arizona as an Ambulatory Case Manager. The Case Manager (CM) position requires the candidate to be a RN, have five years clinical nursing experience, and two years of case management experience. Through her 35 years of working in the medical field, Nancy gain experience as a hospital nurse is areas as the medical-surgical unit, special procedures, neurology, obstetrics, and orthopedics. Her current professional credentials are as a RN and include management experience. Nancy has 19 years experience as a clinical nurse, 16 years experience as a CM, in which

Most of the members of the IDT were chosen from the floor unit they worked on based on experience, expertise, performance, and competency in teamwork. Other members such as therapists and psychologists came from their own departments. The team leader was the units case manager. The patients on Nancy 's unit were diagnoses with a cardiac issue that required continuous monitoring. When a patient was discharged from the hospital, he or she would generally be sent to a skilled nursing facility (SNF), rehabilitation center, or a group home. Nancy stated, "Issues that occur in a patient 's case often were seen during the discharge process in which additional care was needed and patient known resources were inadequate"(N. Huggett, personal communication, Oct 29, 2014) . Examples of these limitations are the type of health issues the patient needs to be cared for, insurance, Medicare coverage, and financial resources. When a patient is identified to need addition assistance with healthcare planning, the case would be included in the next IDT meeting. The interdisciplinary team would meet twice a week to discuss patient cases and once a month to address the department issues, education training about changes in facility policies, procedures, and other aspects that affect patient outcomes and the decision making process. Nancy would present the case to the group, and the members would collaboratively discuss the

The information she provided regarding her position as a CM and about the IDT team she was a part of, demonstrated the importance and value the team has on patient outcomes and supported the goals of the hospitals part in the healthcare service. The practices in which I have done my clinicals from my knowledge have case managers and varying types of disciplinary teams already in place. I believe it is important that facilities utilize these teams to promote safe and effective patient care and utilize the resources available to the patients so that the goals in the plan of care is