| Course | NU 651 Leading and Managing in Complex Organizations |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 6 |
| Paper type | Service integration analysis |
| Length | About 700 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | MSN |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NU 651 Unit 6
Combining Case Management and Social Work Into One Care Management Department: What Stops, What Merges, and What Stays Separate
Student Name
Department of Nursing, Herzing University
NU 651: Leading and Managing in Complex Organizations
Instructor Name
February 27, 2026
Combining Case Management and Social Work Into One Care Management Department: What Stops, What Merges, and What Stays Separate
The Two Services and the Reason for Combining Them
At the composite 300-bed community hospital, case management and social work are separate departments under the vice president of quality, each with its own manager. Case management has 14 full-time equivalent registered nurse case managers, who handle utilization review and discharge planning, 3 utilization review specialists, and 2 assistants. Social work has 6 full-time equivalent licensed social workers, who handle psychosocial assessment, complex discharges to long-term care, guardianship, and reports of suspected abuse. Leadership wants one care management department with one director, for three reasons: patients with complex discharges are interviewed twice by two departments, the two groups keep separate referral queues that slow discharges, and weekend coverage is uneven.
Inventory of What Each Holds Now
The table compares the two services on each dimension that integration will touch.
| Dimension | Case management | Social work |
|---|---|---|
| Staffing | 14 RN case managers, 3 utilization review specialists, 2 assistants | 6 licensed social workers |
| Hours | 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays; one RN on weekends | 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays; phone on-call on weekends |
| Assignment | By unit, about 20 patients each | By referral from case managers, nurses, or physicians |
| Assessment | Discharge planning assessment form in the record within 24 hours of admission | Psychosocial assessment note, on referral |
| Systems | Utilization review software plus the electronic record | Electronic record only |
| Rounds | Attend daily unit rounds | Attend when a referred patient is discussed |
| Supervision | Manager is an RN | Manager is a licensed clinical social worker; provides clinical supervision required for licensure |
| Measures | Length of stay, avoidable days, denials | Referral response time, placements completed |
Where They Overlap
For about 30% of admissions, patients with complex needs such as housing instability, possible long-term care placement, or limited family support, both a case manager and a social worker assess the patient and family within the first two days, asking many of the same questions and documenting in two different places. Families have complained about repeating their story. Both groups also contact the same skilled nursing facilities, sometimes on the same afternoon, about the same patient. Role confusion between case managers and social workers is a recognized problem in hospital care management, and nurse case managers themselves report role ambiguity and conflict (Smith, 2011).
What Stops
Integration is mostly subtraction. The following stop: the second, duplicate initial assessment, replaced by a single care management assessment in one template, with a psychosocial section completed by the social worker only when triggered by defined criteria; the separate social work referral queue, replaced by a shared work list; parallel calls to post-acute facilities, replaced by one assigned owner per patient; and the two separate manager positions, replaced by one director and two team leads.
What Merges
Unit assignments merge into four unit-based teams, each with three or four RN case managers and one or two social workers, attending the same daily rounds. Hours merge into one schedule with a registered nurse and a social worker both on site on weekend days, which the current combined staffing can cover by shifting two weekday social work shifts. Measures merge into a shared set that both disciplines are accountable for: length of stay, avoidable days, and time from discharge order to departure for complex patients.
What Stays Separate
Professional scopes stay separate. Utilization review, clinical assessment, and clinical teaching remain nursing functions; psychosocial assessment, counseling, guardianship petitions, and abuse and neglect assessment remain social work functions, consistent with the professional standards for social work in health care settings (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2016) and for case management practice (Case Management Society of America [CMSA], 2022). Clinical supervision of social workers also stays with a licensed clinical social worker, because social work licensure requires it, so one team lead position must be held by a social worker regardless of who the director is. That point is also the answer to social workers' main fear about integration, that they will be absorbed into nursing and lose their professional voice.
The Reporting Line and the Risks
The director may be a nurse or a social worker; the job description will require care management experience and allow either license. Risks: social workers leaving if they see the change as a demotion, which a clear scope statement and the social work team lead position address; utilization review suffering if case managers are pulled into psychosocial work, which the trigger criteria address; and the shared work list failing if the utilization review software and the record are not connected, which requires an information technology request that should be made before the integration date, not after.
Measures of Success
Six months after integration: complex patients assessed once rather than twice, audited monthly; referral to social work assessment within 24 hours for triggered cases; weekend discharges of complex patients; length of stay and avoidable days; and staff turnover in both disciplines, reported separately.
References
Case Management Society of America. (2022). Standards of practice for case management. Case Management Society of America.
National Association of Social Workers. (2016). NASW standards for social work practice in health care settings. National Association of Social Workers.
Smith, A. C. (2011). Role ambiguity and role conflict in nurse case managers: An integrative review. Professional Case Management, 16(4), 182-196. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCM.0b013e318218845b
The Herzing NU 651 Unit 6 instructions
In Unit 6 you analyze the integration of two services or departments. Expect to describe both services and the reason for combining them, compare their functions, staff, processes and standards, identify overlap, and decide what will stop, merge or remain separate. Many versions ask about leadership, reporting lines, risks and measures of success. Check whether your section wants a full merger or a partial integration such as shared rounds. Professional standards for each discipline should guide what stays separate. Address staffing respectfully, focusing on roles and work rather than positions cut. A table comparing the two services on each dimension makes overlap visible and supports the decisions that follow. If the services use different documentation systems, say how a single assessment will be recorded.
How the NU 651 Unit 6 example is put together
The analysis opens with the two services and the reason leaders want to combine them, stated in terms of patient experience and duplication. A comparison table covers staffing, functions, documentation and reporting. The overlap section quantifies the shared caseload and describes how patients experience duplication. Three short sections follow the stop, merge and separate structure, which gives the integration a clear logic. What stops is mostly duplicate work. What merges is team structure and rounds. What stays separate is protected by professional standards from both disciplines. The reporting line section makes a deliberate choice to allow either license. Risks such as loss of social work identity are named. Measures are concrete, including single assessments and referral timeliness.
NU 651 Unit 6 rubric: what full points look like
Herzing's rubric for an integration analysis typically weighs the rationale, the comparison of services, the integration decisions, attention to professional scope, leadership and structure, risks and measures. Comparison points reward a systematic look at each dimension, from staffing to documentation. The decisions row is where most marks sit, and each choice to stop, merge or keep separate needs its own reason for the top band. Scope criteria look for professional standards from both disciplines, not only from nursing. Leadership points go to a clear reporting line with reasons for the choice. Risks and measures are scored on specificity and on whether a measure has a date and a data source. The writing line rewards a readable comparison table and APA 7 references, including Smith's study of role ambiguity in care management teams.
Common NU 651 Unit 6 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Integration papers in Unit 6 commonly lose credit by describing the merger as an organizational chart change without addressing the work. Another frequent problem is ignoring professional scope, which can lead to staff doing work outside their license or training. Students often miss the duplication patients experience, such as repeated assessments on the same day. Staffing is sometimes discussed bluntly as cuts, which reads poorly to graders and to staff. Risks are listed generically, such as resistance to change. Measures without a timeframe or data source cannot be used. Some papers favor one discipline without giving reasons. Finally, cite each profession's standards, because what stays separate should rest on the CMSA and NASW documents rather than on the writer's preference.
Get a NU 651 Unit 6 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 6 instructions and the rubric from your NU 651 classroom, plus the two services being combined and the reason given for combining them. We write a custom example with a parallel inventory, every overlap resolved with reasons, the protocol conflicts argued and the workforce consequences stated, returned in 24 to 48 hours. The first custom sample is free.
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NU 651 Unit 6 questions, answered
Does the example have to be a full merger?
No, and a smaller integration usually produces a sharper paper. Two clinics combining after-hours coverage, or one department absorbing a service line, gives you the same overlaps at a size you can genuinely resolve inside one submission. Follow the instructions where they set the scale, and pick something whose protocols and rosters you can describe in specifics rather than in general terms.
How do I handle the staffing section without sounding callous?
By being accurate and unsentimental rather than either cheerful or grim. State which roles duplicate, what the organization owes people whose posts disappear, and what a fair selection process would look like. Managers who cannot write that section end up making the same decisions later with less notice for the staff affected, which is the outcome an honest version prevents.
What if the two services use different record systems?
Then that is a central finding and it belongs early, not in a technical appendix. Say which system the combined service will run on, what happens to the history held in the other one, and how long both will be read from during the transition. Integrations commonly slip by a season for exactly this reason, so treat it as a scheduling constraint.
Where can I find a free NU 651 Unit 6 sample paper?
The full NU 651 Unit 6 care management integration analysis is posted here for free, with what stops, merges and stays separate. A custom analysis can address the services being combined in your organization.
How do I write about merging two hospital departments in a nursing leadership paper?
Compare what each department does, identify where work overlaps, then decide what stops, what merges and what stays separate, using each profession's standards. This sample merges case management and social work while protecting each discipline's scope.