What is Case Management and what is a Case Manager?

What is Case Management?

Where did Case Management begin?

Case Management has been traced back to over 100 years ago. It began in the USA with nurses and social workers seeking the best way to manage people with complex needs. Case Management is now widely used throughout USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Case Management progressed further after World War II, social workers and nurses were used to assist in the management of soldiers, who had suffered complex injuries, and their rehabilitation and recovery.

These soldiers needed multidisciplinary intervention and the case managers were employed by insurance companies to optimise their recovery. 

What qualifications and skills were needed to become a Case Manager?

Qualified Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist, Nurse, Psychologist or Social Workers were employed as Case Managers. They are regulated primarily by their own professional body. Case Managers are now also registered with CMSUK ( Case Management Society UK) and BABICM (British Association of Brain Injury Case Managers) .

Case Managers have 5 principals of ethics which they must abide by, which are:

• Duty of care
  
• Best interests of the client
  
• Integrity and transparency
  
• Professional competence
• Business ethics
  

Role of the Case Manager in rehabilitation

Often the case manager is instructed early on in the rehabilitation process following the trauma.

However if the cause is clinical negligence the case manager is mostly instructed at a later stage.

An essential part of successful case management is building a strong and trusting working relationship with the client and their family/supporting network.

This means that case managers can be working with a client and their family for longer periods (over 10 years) and visit them on a regular (monthly) basis.

The case manager is involved in all aspects of a clients life, which is an intrusive process.

The client can go through the 5 stages of grief after a traumatic event, Psychological Impact