Nurse Kaycee Here

When I tell people that I’m a Nurse Care Manager, I am usually get met with a questioning look.

When I say I’m a nurse, people generally assume I do floor nursing, so naturally I get a lot of questions about my role and what exactly I do.

Here’s what a typical day at my job looks like:

7:30 am: Arrive to the office, turn my computer on, log in, turn my pager and secure chat status on.

7:35 am: Check the daily assignments e-mail to see if I am double covering or assisting any other care managers.

7:40 am: Add myself to the treatment team of any patients that got admitted overnight on my services (I cover two surgical services) and print my patient list (I generally have about 20-30 patients daily).

7:45 am: Log into Careport and check on any home care, subacute rehab, or inpatient rehabilitation referrals I had sent the previous day. Check on the status of any insurance authorizations that may be pending for subacute rehabilitation facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, or Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals (LTACs).

8:00 am: Look up my patients, read physical therapy notes to see updated recommendations (physical therapy assesses the patients to see what durable medical equipment they may need or services they may require once the patient discharges).

9:00 am: Meet with the medical team to get daily updates on the patient’s medical status and the discharge plan.

9:30 am:  After AM report I round on all the patients that have discharge needs or that I need to perform initial assessments on.

10:15 am: Return to my office and start sending referrals, charting, and writing notes. Make and return phone calls. Eat breakfast while I chart. Update facilities or home care companies on patients discharge plans.

11:00 am: Meet with second medical team to get daily updates on ICU and moderate care patients.

11:30 am: Update my daily care management boards (this is where all other care managers can see what the plan is for the patient for the next 24 hours. We update the boards every morning after we meet with the medical teams and know the plan for the day).

12:00pm: Generally, most meetings happen around 12:00 during the week. We don’t have meetings every day, but I would say on average we have meetings twice a week.

1:00 pm: Take a 30 min lunch break. I always try to take a lunch and read my book or take a mental break by scrolling social media. When it gets warm outside, I try to get some sun or go for a walk.

1:30 pm: Continue updating any daily boards that are not finished. Identify which patients need weekly notes (per Medicare guidelines, each patient gets a progress note every 7 days from an RN Care Manager or Social Worker).

2:00 pm: Continue discharge planning. This includes getting prescriptions from the team that we may need such as IV antibiotics, flushes, or durable medical equipment (also known as DME) and sending them to the correct companies. Check on the status of insurance authorizations that may be pending for subacute rehabilitation facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, or Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals (LTACHs).

3:00 pm: Continue discharge planning, meet with newly admitted patients, follow up with patients regarding any updates in discharge plans. Prep new referrals for the next day.

4:00 pm: Turn off pager and secure chat. Log out and leave for the day.

I have been working at this job for almost two years and have my days organized. Being a care manager requires one to have exceptional organizational skills and the ability to multitask as many requests can come at you at the same time.

We also have care management assistants that help us during the day, and I utilize them to help prep referrals, send clinical information and follow up on discharge paperwork. They are life savers and I appreciate them so much!

I hope this post was informative and that you could get a good insight into what care managers do during their shift.

I hope you have an amazing day and remember to take care of yourself.