The mission of the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) is to support Nursing by enhancing best nursing practices and improving patient outcomes. Integral to the CNS role are core competencies that include clinical expertise, collaboration, consultation, education, research, and leadership activities.
The CNS, a Master's prepared registered nurse, is a patient advocate and clinical resource in a particular specialty or sub-specialty of nursing practice.
Collaborating with nurses, physicians and other health care professionals, the CNS integrates nursing practice with medical practice and treatment of disease, injury or disability by providing or guiding direct patient care, by implementing improvements in care delivery systems, and by influencing care outcomes.
Additional activities of the CNS may include education of patients, families, and other healthcare professionals, role model/mentor, change agent, facilitator/evaluator of research and quality outcomes, publication, and leadership.
Mission Hospitals is a participating member of NICHE (Nurses Improving Care for Health System Elders), a national initiative funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation. The Geriatric Resource Nurse (GRN) model of care is utilized on most adult inpatient units. The program focuses on building the knowledge and skill levels of staff nurses to provide sensitive, exemplary care for the elder adult, by assessing, detecting, preventing and/or managing common geriatric nursing care problems that occur across all specialties.
The CNS, Research, in collaboration with the Institutional Review Board (IRB), nurse researchers, and research consultants, promotes and supports nursing research, research utilization, and implementation of evidence-based practice in all inpatient settings. Research findings help determine how nurses deliver care, educate each other, and manage their practice.
