The Role of the Clinical Nursing Specialist as Perceived by the Professional Nurse Staff on a Selected Psychiatric Unit, Veterans Administration Hospital, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

摘要

The purpose of the study was to determine the emerging role of a Clinical Nursing Specialist as perceived by the professional nurse staff assigned on a selected psychiatric unit. An opinionnaire, focusing on selective functions of the specialist and some anticipated results of assigning the specialist, was administered to the professional nurse staff on a psychiatric unit shortly after the specialist was assigned to the unit. The professional nurse staff included the head nurse, the specialist, and seventeen staff nurses. Approximately five months later the opinionnaire was re-administered to the same people. A comparison of the two surveys revealed an emerging role definition of the Clinical Nursing Specialist. In both surveys the staff nurses identified six functions as being most important for the nursing specialist. These functions included the areas of: identification of nursing care problems; development of individualized nursing care plans; planning with other disciplines; care for the 'problem patients'; assistance for the staff nurses in understanding patient behavior; and interpretation of nursing's role and activities to other disciplines. These same functions were also given top priority by the head nurse and specialist in both surveys.