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CMW Sneak Peek: Bridge the gap between RNs and social workers to create a cohesive case management program

Case Management Weekly, July 30, 2008

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For patients to receive the right care and to deal with the effect that an injury or health problem can have on other factors in their lives, such as work and family, it is often critical that a case management program staff both RN and social work case managers.

However, the two professional disciplines often don’t know how to use each other, forget to take advantage of the services the other offers, or feel territorial about which cases belong to which discipline.

Susan Reynolds, MSW, CCM, is one of two social work case managers who work with a team of 15 or 16 RNs as part of Passport Health Plan’s case management program in Louisville, KY. Reynolds says she feels valued and respected at her organization. “I have never felt that there were any issues with turf here,” she says.

Gretchen Uhl, RN, CCM, is an RN case manager who works with Reynolds and understands the value of working with social work case managers. “They’re very knowledgeable, and they have different experience. They give me a completely different perspective on the problems that I might run in to with my patients.”

As to how this synergy of social workers and RN case managers came about at Passport, Reynolds and Uhl attribute it to the following administrative differences:

• Nurse and social work case managers are paid the same and are considered to have equal but different levels of expertise.
• A low turnover rate.
• Upon orientation, a new staff member is required to shadow each member of the department, including the social workers, or, in the opposite case, the RNs. In this way, the new staff member understands what each person’s function is and how each side works.

Check out the July 2008 issue of Case Management Monthly to get the full story, and check out all the benefits of being a Case Management Monthly subscriber!

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