Sam Albrecht, Executive Director of the Commission for Case Manager Certification, presented testimony on December 3 on the important role nurse case/care managers play today and in the future of health care system.  All case managers should review this paper which documents the current and future role case managers have in ensuring consumers of health care receive safe, quality, evidence-based care regardless of setting.  You can review the paper in its entirety here.

As outlined in his paper, Mr. Albrecht shares a comparison of nursing and case management processes which reveal the following commonalities:

• The nursing process of assessment equates to the case management process of case finding/screening and intake; assessing the patient’s needs 
• The nursing process of diagnosis equates to the case management process of identifying actual/potential problems 
•  The nursing process of planning equates to the case management process of interdisciplinary case conferencing; establishing goals of treatment and expected outcomes of care; developing/individualizing the case management plan 
•  The nursing process of implementation equates to the case management process of implementing the case management plan/interdisciplinary plan of care; facilitating/coordinating patient care activities 
•  The nursing process of evaluation equates to the case management process of monitoring the delivery of patient care services; evaluating outcomes of care/patient responses to treatment; discharge/disposition; repeating the case management process. (Cesta, Tahan, 1998)

For those unfamiliar with the CCMC-Commission for Case Manager Certification, the commission began in 1992 and has certified more than 35,000 case managers.  I am one of them.  Not only do we provide access to appropriate healthcare services and promote patient impowerment.  You can learn more about the certification process on the CCMC website.

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