CNO Factors That Require a Nursing Degree

Chief Nursing Officers have a role central to the successful management of their hospitals. The CNO oversees the entirety of a hospital's nursing care, which is essentially the bulk of daily patient care. While physicians evaluate, give orders and of course, perform surgeries and procedures, nurses take care of the patient for the vast majority of the day. Nursing departments execute much of patients' treatments. So, a good CNO has a difficult job. She must be both a great manager and a great nurse. Like all great clinicians, a solid education is the foundation of a CNO's clinical knowledge and an absolute requirement for the job.

Clinical Procedures

• Among a CNO's many duties, she has to be able to understand new medical procedures and approaches as they develop. When a medical facility undertakes new methods of care, the CNO is responsible for implementing the education and changes needed for the nursing staff to properly support and execute the changes. CNOs are the bridge between medical officers, administration and the nursing staff. Their nursing educations are the underpinning of their medical knowledge and ability to translate what nursing needs to accomplish.

Supervision

• Being the top bosses of nursing, CNOs have to understand the issues and needs of the numerous nursing units that report to them. That means a working knowledge of orthopedics, cardiology, pediatrics, obstetrics, oncology and many other clinical subjects as well as the way these departments function to deliver patient care.

Representation

• Besides managing nurses, CNOs also educate other departments of their hospitals about nursing, how it works and what its capabilities and limitations are. That means being able to properly represent nursing's scope of practice, clinical role, functioning and responsibility for patient care. These are fundamentals on which nurses are educated in their primary degrees and further instructed in nursing graduate degrees, which CNOs often have.