Measuring comprehensive case management interventions. Development of a tool.

As case management programs seek to demonstrate effectiveness data are needed on the interventions used by case managers. This research was done to quantify the interventions used by case managers for low-income prenatal clients. Using the Client Intervention Form, case managers from two local health departments, whose caseload included pregnant Medicaid recipients, recorded the use of 7 types of interventions in 10-minute increments. The Client Intervention Form is easy to use and is based on an existing valid typology of nursing interventions. Intervention types include: assessment, monitoring, education, clinical acts, coordination, support, and coaching. The amount of time spent doing each of the seven types of interventions varied between agencies and across types of interventions, suggesting that the Client Intervention Form can quantify interventions used. Recommendations for practice and research are identified.