A person working as a clinical specialist nurse is considered as an advanced practicing nurse who focuses on a particular patient population. They can have specializations in certain disease types, like cardiovascular disease or diabetes. They can also have specializations in particular medical environments like emergency room, operation room or critical care etc. Some specialist nurses specialize on certain types of patients like neonatal patients or geriatric patients or procedures like clinical or surgical.
The general duties that make up the daily routine of a specialist nurse include teaching, clinical practice, consulting, management and research. They have to do the duties of a case manager often by organizing and co-coordinating resources and services and by controlling costs. They play an important role in the managed care domain and can handle the inter-dependencies and complexities of several health practice parts.
Requirements
Academic
Generally candidates with a post-graduate degree in the field of nursing are preferred with advanced clinical skills and specialization in a particular field. Join a good clinical nurse specialist course.
Skills
Their work include functioning as the leader in the clinical care distribution and they should have excellent leadership skills along with interactive skills as they need to interact within the entire system of health care. A genuine interest in providing health care to the needy patients is the most required skill. Other required skills include data interpreting ability, identifying medical problems and identifying abnormal findings. Excellent written and verbal communication skills would be assessed by the employers.
Training
They should have completed training in a particular area of medicine, like cardiovascular section, neonatal section etc. Computer training from a reputed Institution would be an advantage since a specialist nurse would have to use computer features access, excel, spreadsheets, word etc.
Prior Experience
Like in any other field, experienced candidates can look forward to high paying jobs. Try to main a good employment history.
Employment Outlook
Career Prospects
There are a lot of vacancies being created in the area of nursing each year. Getting employed would not be difficult if you have the right skills and educational qualification. There is a huge demand for specialist nurses in all the fields of medicine. They have the option of working independently.
Salary
The job of a specialist clinical nurse comes with an attractive pay package since people employed in this area would get a salary ranging from about $62,500 to about $82,305. The salary depends on the qualifications and experience of a nurse. With more experience they can draw a higher salary.
So, if you are looking forward to a career in the field of medicine as specialist clinic nurse make sure you have the required skills and professional qualifications and most importantly the right attitude towards the job without which you will not be able to enjoy your work.
