Below is information on becoming a Geriatric Nurse Manager, a growing specialty for nurses who want to provide a service to those individuals over the age of 65, who need additional assistance in the home.
Don’t confuse Geriatric Care Management (GCM) with Case Manager, they are different. A Geriatric Care Nurse Manager offers a personalized approach by seeing older adults in their homes and being available 24/7, 365 days a year. This gives Geriatric Care Manager more flexibility and a lighter case load than a case manager would have. Read below to find out more.
What is a Geriatric Care Nurse Manager?
A Geriatric Care Manager is a nurse (RN, LPN) or someone specialized in human services (social worker or psychology), who assists the older adult (age 65 and older) in helping them to remain as independent as possible in their home. A geriatric care manager provides a complete assessment of the individual, the home settings, financial, legal and home care services needed. They also provide community or government resources available to the client and/or their family.
Geriatric Care Managers are also called Elder care managers, Senior Care Managers, Professional Geriatric Care Managers.
What does a Geriatric Care Nurse Manager do?
Here is a list of some of your duties as a geriatric care manager.
- Conducts a face to face interview with the client
to create a care plan - Arranges for services that may be needed such as physical therapy, home health aide, etc.
- Monitors for any needs the client may have
- Connects the client with the community resources available to him/her
You will work closely with families or the caregiver on making sure their loved one gets their health care needs met on a day to day and long term basis. Good communication and interpersonal skills are a must.
You may also have to help with long term care placement when the times comes such as providing information on nursing homes or assisted living facilities.
Geriatric Care Managers can work for
- Community based agencies such as home health care or community clinics
- Nursing homes
- Insurance companies
- Elder attorneys
- Self employed as an independent contractor
How to become a Geriatric Care Nurse Manager
If you have a current non restricted current nursing license with experience of at least two years in direct patient care and care management experience or you specialize in chronic diseases or gerontology you could become a geriatric care manager. You do not need to be certified to be a geriatric care manager but after working in the field for awhile and you find you like it and want this as a career path by all means get certified, it’s a great specialty to be in and you’ll be paid more money for being certified.
Certification
Certification for a geriatric care manager can be obtained from the National Academy of Certified Care Manager. Here you can order a handbook from NACCM that lists the requirements needed, sample questions, a form to register, cost, etc. (for a fee). Check out their web site for more information.
You do not need to be certified to be a Geriatric Care Nurse Manager and certification does not apply to LPNs, only RNs.
Trends in Nursing
More and more private insurance companies are seeing the benefits a geriatric care manager can provide by helping to cut costs and keeping older adults out of the hospital deceasing costly re admissions.
This is a trend that will be in demand in the coming years as our baby boomers become of retirement age. They will consist of 22 million strong by the year 2015. I predict more families will pay for this service because most people want to stay in their own homes and families want this also. By being a Geriatric Care Manager, you can help families provide the proper care needed for their loved ones to remain in their own environment.
Tina 🙂