A clinical nurse specialist (CNS) can be defined as an advanced practice nurse, who has earned master’s or doctorate from a program meant for CNSs. Clinical nurse specialists are specialized in specific nursing practice field and provides evidence-based nursing interventions.
Their specialization can be based in the following fields:
- Population, such as children’s health, women’s health, pediatrics and others.
- Setting includes emergency cares, critical care and others.
- Disease or Medical Subspecialty relating to diabetes, oncology and so on.
- Type of Care concerning psychiatric, rehabilitation and others.
- Type of Problem – injury, pain, wounds, stress and so on.
The basic aim of CNS is to advance their nursing practice along with other nurses for result oriented outcome and to offer clinical expertise for caring. Their specialize education not only make them proficient in the skill and knowledge but also provide them expertise to offer consultation to other nurses and leadership quality in health care field delivery.
Their everyday duties are concentrated in mainly five spheres including, clinical practice, teaching, research, consulting and management. CNS specialization makes them better prepared to focus than nurse practitioner’s assessment skills and more expertise than expert level staff nurses.
The basic prerequisites to get admittance in a Clinical Nurse specialist schools depends on various factors, such as whether you plan to complete your education with BS in Nursing, an associate’s degree in nursing, or as a student with a non-nursing field bachelor’s degree.
You need to fulfill any of the following condition for enrollment in a school for your CNS degree:
- Possession of accredited school’s Bachelor’s degree in nursing
- Active practicing License from the state from where you aim to complete your education.
- Completion of the GRE
- Completion of a statistics course with required grade
- Recommendation Letters
- A personal statement about your purpose for aiming to become a CNS.
Most common programs offered by clinical nurse specialist schools include:
- RN-to-MSN programs for nurses with 2-year degrees
- “Direct entry” programs for students with bachelor’s degrees in non-nursing fields.
The basic course works for CNS are as follows:
- Nursing theory and philosophy
- Ethics in health care
- Health assessment and Health care systems management
- Research methods
In addition to the coursework, it is essential that you must complete 500 clinical hours for earning the degree.