Case management nurses are ordinary nurses who coordinate the handling of patients in a healthcare setup, especially strategizing on how resources are used. They also provide care to patients who need long term care. Their role involves interaction with social workers when caring for home-based patients, physicians at the clinic, and other nurses. They are also very keen on patient outcomes and ensuring patients receive the best medical services (Hudon et al., 2015). I interviewed Miss Belinda Stewart who works in the lifestyle-related diseases clinic at Mountain View Hospital in Georgia.
Interviewer: Good afternoon, my name is…… If you can spare some few minutes, I would like to talk to you about your job as a case management nurse.
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Nurse: Good afternoon… Sure, we have some few minutes before the next patient is here.
Interviewer: Can you identify the specific patient population that you serve in a day, and thus monthly?
Nurse: Going by the books of records, I serve an average of two hundred and twenty-five people in a month. I do not serve a specific age group, but this population is mainly made up of adults above fifty years of age, because I work in the lifestyle-related diseases department. Most lifestyle diseases such as obesity and heart diseases set in as we advance in age, so the number of young people I interact with is limited. The race is never a specific one, as these diseases affect all races equally.
Interviewer: Thank you for the well-explained response. How would you describe your day to day responsibilities and activities?
Nurse: My day to day routine is never the same, because I meet different people each day, each with a different history. It has been suggested in the past that home-based care for such patients would be good, ( Holland et al., 2017), so o ur clinic has many home-based cases. My day to day routine, therefore, shifts between the patients at the clinic and those who are home-based. On a typical day, I start my day at 8.30 am by looking at my appointments of the day. I then attend to the patients, each according to their specifications. I check their last clinic dates, prescriptions that were given, any diet restrictions and recommendations, and new health complication that may have come up after their previous visit to the physician. I then provide suggestions on what they should include or remove from their routine and diet. For the home-based patients, I visit five patients in a week, and the routine is the same as that of those who come to the clinic. In the afternoon, I call my patients who have skipped their appointments without notification to know why so. That’s a typical day at work, which ends at 4.30 am.
Interviewer: It must be fulfilling one to know your patients at a personal level. So how would you say your role improves patients’ outcomes?
Nurse: Yes, it is fulfilling to interact with and know my patients well. That is what I could say improves patient outcomes. As patients come to our clinic, they have an expectation, and so does the clinic. As I go about my day to day activities, I have in mind the expectations of both parties. That’s how I manage to improve patient outcomes. I make sure every patient is listened to, their opinion taken into account, and any objections explained. I also improve the outcomes by offering personalized service. Every patient is different, so service should be customized to fit each of them.
Interviewer: Can you measure these outcomes?
Nurse: The outcomes can only be measured by the results we get. The patients have been giving positive feedback, which means the outcomes have improved. The clinic has also recorded a higher success rate in the management of lifestyle-related diseases, so yes; I could say that’s a measure of how much patient outcomes have improved.
Interviewer: Alright, so what are the qualifications required for a person to work in your position?
Nurse: I pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, and later specialized in lifestyle diseases.
Interviewer: Being a nurse comes with challenges, so how do you handle them?
Nurse: It is at these points that my weaknesses and strengths come in. I have learned to hold my anger, which comes in handy in this job. This has prevented me from backlashing to patients and the authorities. I also can stay focused on what the clinic expects its mission and vision, yet centering my service on the patient. This enables me deliver all-around healthcare. However, I have a weakness in record keeping. This gives me a hard time tracing missed appointments.
Interviewer: That was indeed a detailed interview, expressed in a very professional way. Thank you very much, now I have to go so that you see your next patient.
References
Holland, R., Brooksby, I., Lenaghan, E., Ashton, K., Hay, L., Smith, R., ... & Hall, R. (2017). Effectiveness of visits from community pharmacists for patients with heart failure: HeartMed randomized controlled trial. Bmj , 334 (7603), 1098.
Hudon, C., Chouinard, M. C., Diadiou, F., Lambert, M., & Bouliane, D. (2015). Case management in primary care for frequent users of health care services with chronic diseases: a qualitative study of patient and family experience. The Annals of Family Medicine , 13 (6), 523-528.
