About Clinical Nurse Specialists

Here's a general overview of what a clinical nurse specialist is, what they do and the education required, as well as salary expectations.

The Facts

• A clinical nurse specialist is a registered nurse with an advanced-practice degree (a master's or doctorate) and one specialty area. These specialists may function as researchers, educators, health care providers or as administrators. In addition, many clinical nurse specialists function as case managers, assisting hospitals in coordinating care and services for their patients. Unlike a staff nurse who has a broader scope of responsibility, the CNS concentrates on one specialty area in their practice, such as cardiology, obstetrics, community health, cancer or pediatrics.

Misconceptions

• A CNS is not a nurse practitioner. A nurse practitioner's role is focused more on long-term patient care, much as that of a physician. A CNS is more focused on research and its outcome.

Time Frame

• The average CNS spends two to three years obtaining their advanced degree after completing their bachelor's. In most cases, this advanced degree adds approximately $20,000 per year to the base salary of a registered nurse. A CNS will use clinical skills, as well as theoretical expertise, in their practice, whether functioning as a bedside nurse or in a management role. A CNS is also usually involved in research, frequently publishing papers or working as part of a research team on a complex series of issues. In this role, effective data gathering and analysis skills are essential as the research findings may impact the role of the nurse and patient care for the future.

History of

• A need to enhance nursing expertise at the bedside gave birth to the idea of a clinical nurse specialist as early as 1938 at Columbia University in New York. In 1943, Frances Reiter, RN, coined the phrase "nurse clinician." In the 1950s, the first CNS education program was begun at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., with the first specialty of psychiatric nursing.

Features

• Like their nurse practitioner counterparts, CNSs may write prescriptions after taking a national competency exam, if they are directly involved in patient care. This competency will be retested every few years as new drugs enter the marketplace.