Preparing nurses for the acute care case manager role: educational needs identified by existing case managers.

BACKGROUND: There is little in the literature about how best to prepare nurses for case manager roles. METHOD: Twenty acute care case managers were asked to identify skills and knowledge that would be of value to nurses new to case manager roles. RESULTS: Community resources, discharge planning, and third party reimbursement were the top three educational needs identified by all case managers. Baccalaureate prepared case managers identified clinical issues to be of value, such as family coping, patient education, quality of life, and social support, while master's prepared nurses identified only system-related issues. CONCLUSION: Educational programs preparing baccalaureate prepared case managers could focus on both clinical and system issues, while programs preparing master's educated case managers could focus primarily on managing system issues. Staff development professionals may also call on experts inside and outside the institution to assist in teaching about health care finance and reimbursement issues.