Highly trained medical personnel such as clinical nurse specialists are invaluable as case managers in today’s managed care model of health care delivery. They are uniquely qualified, within their specialty, to recommend courses of treatment and to make decisions as to the efficacy of one particular treatment over another. Expertise of this sort can help control medical costs as well as provide good treatment direction: for this reason health insurance companies and HMOs recruit clinical nurse specialists and pay them well to handle disputes over treatment between the health provider and the insurer.
A CNS may also find senior management opportunities within a large HMO or medical group. Nurses who have both the medical expertise and the management skills to handle an ICU or a neonatal unit are not necessarily easy to find. Not only are people in this position responsible for operating their medical unit, but to a great extent they are also in the diplomatic role of dealing with the staff MDs with whom their charges must interact.
Education and Certification for Clinical Nurse Specialists
One of the principal private certification bodies for nursing in this country is the American Nursing Certification Center. Their list of basic requirements in order to sit for a certification exam for a CNS is as follows:
Hold a currently active registered nurse license in the United States or its territories;
Hold a master's or higher degree in nursing;
Have been prepared in the area of practice for which they have applied for certification through a master's program or a formal postgraduate master's program in nursing;
Have graduated from a program offered by an accredited institution granting graduate-level academic credit for all of the course work that includes both didactic and clinical components, and a minimum of 500 hours of supervised clinical practice in the specialty area and role.
A CNS must also be state certified, and private certification can play a role at the state level. California will accept private certification of this sort in lieu of other requirements regarding proof of clinical experience. In all cases, a master’s degree is required. Anyone in pursuit of a clinical nurse specialist career should match up state requirements with the academic choices to be made.
