Become a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)

CNS specialties may be based on any aspect of nursing practice:

• Populations, such as children/pediatrics
• Settings, such as emergency care or surgery
• Disease, such as cancer/oncology
• Type of care, such as psychiatric or rehabilitation
• Type of problem, such as wounds or pain

The common thread for all clinical nurse specialists is that they have the skills and knowledge to provide not just diagnosis and treatment for patients, but also expert consultation to other nurses and leadership to improve health care delivery systems.

Although the CNS role developed in the hospital setting, clinical nurse specialists now work in a wide variety of health care settings, from clinics to long-term care facilities. In any setting, clinical nurse specialists have a multi-faceted role that addresses three different "spheres of influence":

• Patients/families – Assisting patients with the prevention or resolution of illness through medical diagnosis, treatment, and education
• Nursing personnel – Providing expert coaching, building multidisciplinary teams, collaborating with others to improve patient care and health outcomes
• System/network organization – Evaluating outcomes, conducting research, reviewing alternative approaches, making ethical decisions and implementing changes

Research about clinical nurse specialists demonstrates that they have a direct impact on these aspects of patient health care:

As with all nursing careers, the demand for clinical nurse specialists is growing much faster than the average for all occupations. As advanced practice nurses, clinical nurse specialists are in particularly high demand. A CNS can provide primary care to patients, but is not as expensive to hire as a physician. That's a huge benefit in medically underserved areas, such as rural communities and inner cities.

According to Salary.com's 2011 survey, the median salary for a clinical nurse specialist in the United States is $88,336. The middle 50 percent earned between $80,756 and $96,104.

If you're interested in nursing, but suspect you'd have more fun analyzing best practices and optimizing patient care systems than plunging head first into day-to-day patient care, a clinical nurse specialist career may be for you. Explore clinical nurse specialist schools, and start your search a clinical nurse specialist program today!

If online education works better for you, browse online clinical nurse specialist school options!

^{Sources:
National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists; Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011; Salary.com, 2011}