In my 37 years in nursing, I have always been proud to be an RN and have always been committed to being active with my professional organizations and staying current with education and skills which will help me provide the highest quality of care to my clients/patients.
After becoming an amputee and seeing firsthand the workers’ compensation system, and after working in the public health system managing high-risk populations, it seemed a natural progression to become a case manager, coordinating care for catastrophically injured workers. In the nine years I worked for Intracorp, the 14 years I’ve worked with amputees, and now, the three years I have spent retired from work following a devastating catastrophic injury on the job, I have experienced so many proud moments in case management, and have grown to realize and appreciate what a phenomenal “specialty” case management is!
Case management, I believe, is the key to curing most of the “ills” of our health care system; but only if case managers are active networkers with other case managers, obtain certifications and keep current with the latest information and technology. Only if they belong to their professional organizations and commit themselves to being the best case managers that we can be! With this commitment come more proud moments than I can count.
One client who I case managed over 10 years ago, who incurred an SCI after a fall and is a paraplegic, lives independently and has had few complications over the years. She achieved autonomy, independence and high quality care and education which I can only attribute to one-on-one case management. Those amputees who had intense case management are not “disabled” — they are all highly functional, independent and productive.
Pride in case management came in so many surprising forms: not only from the patients and clients who had positive outcomes resulting from case management, or from those employees who would put you on speed dial to let you know about fellow employees when they were injured, but from MDs who stated openly that “they are only going to accept patients who have case managers”; or attorneys who once vehemently said no to case management who now request certain case managers for their cases; or employers, adjustors, or other payers who have incorporated using case managers in their policy and decision-making. Saving money and even time off work is easy; providing quality case management services that benefit all parties and improve not only immediate outcomes, but far-reaching and lasting outcomes, brings pride in case management.
And for me, all that pales to being awarded CMSA’s Award of Service Excellence and being recognized by peers and your professional organization, for not only your case management achievements, but your volunteer efforts and efforts to promote case management. I take pride in my profession and my decision to pursue a specialty in case management — the specialty where I can utilize and draw from all my years of experience and education, where outcomes truly are usually linked to the efforts, quality, and comprehensiveness of the case manager’s actions. I take pride in being considered a team member with some of the finest physicians, specialists, therapists, and other professionals, as well as being able to work directly with clients, not just addressing or impacting on their current illness or injury, but every aspect of their lives, now and along the continuum.
