Clinical Nurse Specialist

The modern healthcare industry looks for driven individuals who can take up various challenging roles which are far broader in scope than conventional nursing duties. If you want an example, look no further than the designation of a clinical nurse specialist. A Clinical Nurse Specialist or CNS is an advanced practice nurse and you can become one by completing a specialized graduate degree program, either a master’s degree or a doctorate, to become an expert in your chosen field of nursing.

As a clinical nurse specialist, you are expected to assume the role of a case manager and maintain the balance between services and resources in your workplace, in order to keep costs under control. This gives you a key role in providing managed healthcare services while sorting out the complexities of modern healthcare practice.

You may also obtain one or more specialties based on aspects of nursing such as:

• Specific groups of patients, such as children
• Specific settings, such as emergency or surgery
• Particular diseases, such as heart diseases
• Type of specialized care, such as rehab or post-operative care
• Type of immediate problem, such as burns or wounds.

As a CNS, you should be able to provide diagnosis and treatment for patients and also guide other members of the nursing staff, in managing various tasks. It is your duty to ensure the best health care delivery within the framework of resources and authority you have at hand.

Although the role of a clinical nurse specialist is best conducted in a hospital setting, you can also work in various other settings these days. Whether it’s a clinic or a special health care facility, you need to link patients, nursing staff and resources for the best possible healthcare delivery by:

• Helping patients and their families understand the illness and how it should be treated for best results and quick recovery.
• Constantly mentoring the nursing team to increase productivity and help get the best out of every individual on the nursing staff.
• Developing best practices by learning from mistakes and making sure that they are never repeated. You also need to make sure that the code of ethics is implemented in actions.

Recent research shows that a CNS has a direct bearing on patient satisfaction and other positive outcomes in healthcare delivery. This is one of the reasons why there is a high demand for clinical nurse specialists, particularly in rural areas and small towns where a CNS is seen to be a heaper yet effective alternative to a physician.

And high demand has also catapulted CNS salaries all over the country. Based on surveys the median salary for clinical specialist nurses is around $80K, with the middle 50% earning in the range around $74K and $88K per annum. This will likely go up with more experience and as you move to bigger healthcare settings.

So, if you want a leadership role in modern nursing, becoming a clinical nurse specialist may be the right step.