Motivational interviewing: building rapport with clients to encourage desirable behavioral and lifestyle changes.

Purpose/objective: As professional case managers seek to improve outcomes, including the health status of their clients, it becomes imperative to gather and assess as much relevant information as possible to identify and address the client's needs in a holistic manner. Motivational interviewing is a highly effective technique case managers employ for this purpose. They also rely on it to move their clients toward a course of successful, desirable, and sustainable change, such as healthier diet, exercise, self-care, and adherence to medications regime and follow-up care.

Case management roles and functions across various settings and professional disciplines.

Purpose: To describe the practice of case managers in diverse settings with special focus on the roles and functions that they engage in during an average work day. Results were also used to validate and revise as indicated in the blueprint of the certification examination of the credential Certified Case Manager (CCM).

Primary Practice Setting(s): The study covered all of the various case management practice settings.

The evidence base for case management practice.

Little is known about the role performance of case managers, who come from a variety of professional disciplines. The purpose of this secondary analysis is to identify and compare case management (CM) activities and knowledge elements by professions and by work settings. In an online field survey conducted by the Commission for Case Manager Certification in 2004, 4,419 case managers rated the frequency and importance of 103 activities (8 domains) and 64 knowledge statements (6 domains).

One patient, numerous healthcare providers, and multiple care settings: addressing the concerns of care transitions through case management.

Care transitions are a natural occurrence in our healthcare delivery system. During a single episode of illness, patients are cared for in multiple care settings and by healthcare professionals of varied specialties and disciplines. Such dynamic events increase the risk of patients experiencing "poor" quality of care, especially as a result of medical errors and unsafe situations.

Perspectives of an American University of Beirut graduate on nursing scholarship.

Nursing scholarship is necessary for the advancement of the nursing discipline. Engaging in scholarly activities is every nurse's responsibility regardless of job title, position, or practice setting. Scholarship today is no longer limited to the practice of academicians and scientists; rather, it is integral to the work of nurse leaders, clinicians, health policy specialists, researchers, and educators.

The CCMC's national study of case manager job descriptions: an understanding of the activities, role relationships, knowledges, skills, and abilities.

Defining the roles and functions of case managers is crucial in today's healthcare environment and necessary for the case management field. One way to address this issue is through the examination of case managers' job descriptions used in various healthcare organizations. The study reported herein used qualitative analysis procedures and the latent class cluster analysis method to examine a national sample of 1028 job descriptions of case managers.

Case managers' roles and functions: Commission for Case Manager Certification's 2004 research, part II.

The Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC) conducted its third case managers' role and functions study in 2004 for the purpose of validating the currency and relevancy of the certified case manager examination. The results of this study are shared in an article of 2 parts. Part I, which was published in the previous issue of this journal, discussed the process the CCMC used for the development of the Case Managers' Role and Functions Survey Instrument and the identification of new 6 essential functions and 6 knowledge areas that describe case management practice.

Case managers' roles and functions: Commission for Case Manager Certification's 2004 Research, Part I.

The Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC) conducted its third case managers' role and functions study in 2004. The purpose of this research was to validate the currency and relevancy of the certified case manager examination. The results of this study are shared in 2 parts of an article.

Identifying and reducing risk of medical errors.

From assessment and planning to evaluation and outcomes, case management is a proactive process that provides access to quality, safe, effective, and timely care. Each step in the case management process, especially when undertaken by a qualified professional provider, may also provide an added and significant benefit-the potential to reduce or to prevent the risk of medical errors.

Essentials of advocacy in case management.

Advocacy is vital to case management practice. It is a primary professional role of case managers functioning in various care settings and across the continuum of care. Acquiring knowledge, skills, and competence in what advocacy is and how to enact its related behaviors is essential for success of case managers and for achieving desired outcomes for both the clients and healthcare agencies alike.

Clarifying certification and its value for case managers.

The field of case management is experiencing a rise in the number of certified case managers and certified (or accredited) programs in case and disease management. However, not every practicing case manager, employer, payer, or client is aware of the value of certification. In addition, there exists some confusion about the difference between "individual" and "institution" certification; sometimes they are erroneously used as interchangeable terms.

A ten-step process to develop case management plans.

The use of case management plans has contained cost and improved quality of care successfully. However, the process of developing these plans remains a great challenge for healthcare executives, in this article, the author presents the answer to this challenge by discussing a 10-step formal process that administrators of patient care services and case managers can adapt to their institutions. It also can be used by interdisciplinary team members as a practical guide to develop a specific case management plan.