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A Statewide Survey Report of Roles and Responsibilities in Current Utah Care Management Processes
Brenda Luther1, Marc-Aurel Martial, Joyce Barra
1Brenda Luther, PhD, RN, is the Director of the Masters and Certificate Care Management Specialty and Associate Professor at the College of Nursing and within the Gerontology Interdisciplinary Program at the University of Utah. Dr. Luther is Associate Professor, Director Care Management Programs, College of Nursing, University of Utah. Dr. Luther teaches courses in care management, evidence-based practice, and health promotion. Dr. Luther has specialized disability care and care management, working with children and their families at Shriners Hospital for Children, Intermountain Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. She started her career in care coordination at Shriners working with public, private, and nonprofit agencies to bring about coordinated and connected services for children in Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, and Colorado. Her research interests are care management, successful transition to adulthood for children with disabilities, and health promotion for children with physical disabilities. Marc-Aurel Martial, MPH, BSN, is a clinical instructor at the University of Utah College of Nursing. He teaches transitional care and global health topics. His clinical background includes systems project management and informatics. He is also a PhD student at the college, with his research focus on care management roles and responsibilities and global health. Joyce Barra, PhD, RN, is currently Assistant Professor in the graduate program at Weber State University where she teaches courses in educator socialization, assessment, and teaching strategies. She also manages the Executive Leadership students in their master's practicum. Dr. Barra's past experiences include directorships in ADN, BSN, and MSN programs. Her interests include specialized accreditation, both domestic and international, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Dr. Barra has a background in adult Med-Surg Nursing and a love of qualitative research, especially related to teaching and learning.
Purpose Of The Study:
Measure current roles and responsibilities of care managers in the state of Utah.
Primary Practice Setting:
All settings of health care including inpatient, outpatient, community, payer, post-acute, and transitional care settings.
Methods And Sample:
A quantitative descriptive survey design was used to assess and describe current care management roles and responsibilities of 191 care managers within the state of Utah. Quantitative variables of roles and responsibilities were collected an electronic database (REDCap).
Results:
Major results conclude that care managers spend most of their time on direct patient interactions including discharge planning, population care, and utilization review. These care managers are highly experienced in their field, with most being in their professional practice for more than 10 years. Most of the care managers are bachelor's prepared nurses.
Implications For Care Management And Care Coordination Practice:
To create or expand care management processes to meet the goals of health care reform, systems first need to know what care managers/coordinators are doing and where their current focus on care presides. Educators, leaders, and, indeed, the care managers themselves are a part of preparing this dynamic workforce. The major responsibility of care management continues to be direct patient interactions, meaning that care managers are performing vital interpersonal patient interaction needed to achieve highly personalized patient care with assurances of quality and safety. No matter the name-care management, case management, or care coordination-these activities are an essential part of health care, with highly specialized skills that promote patient engagement and activation.