Clinical nurse specialist CNS
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This article describes the implementation of a clinical nurse specialist-led emergency department overdose education and naloxone distribution program. The program's purpose is to increase naloxone availability to reduce opiate overdose mortality rates within the local community. ⋯ Although emergency department naloxone distribution programs are feasible in the acute care setting, it was critical for clinical nurse specialists to enlist an interdisciplinary team and engage executive leadership to ensure program success. For others considering such a program, early consideration should be given to determining financial support and evaluating the compliance and regulatory aspects of dispensing medications from emergency settings.
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The hCATS (health Colleges Advancing Team Skills) to CPR (Cultivating Practices for Resilience) Camp was an interprofessional pilot program to promote resilience, introduce strategies for coping with stress, cultivate compassion, and promote work-life balance to prevent burnout among health profession students, faculty, and healthcare professionals who team to provide patient care. ⋯ The CPR Camp initiative is an effective model for promoting and sustaining resilience-building strategies among health profession students. Similar programming conducted and/or attended by academic and/or health system leaders, such as clinical nurse specialists, can help cultivate practices for resilience among the members of the interprofessional workforce, enabling teams to better cope with stress, prevent burnout, and ultimately improve team-based care delivery for patients and their families.
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This article describes the work of the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS) Opioid/Pain Management Task Force and provides guidance for the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) in evidence-based pain management interventions and organizational program development. ⋯ As an expert in clinical, professional, and systems leadership, the CNS is ideally suited to convene interprofessional groups focused on pain management including development of organizational philosophies, policies, and evidence-based care.
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Common pain assessment tools measure intensity, ignoring other dimensions of pain like function. The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of a newly developed functional pain assessment scale (FPAS) for use in clinical practice. ⋯ This pilot study provided support for the reliability and validity of the FPAS in cognitively intact patients experiencing pain. Although more research is needed, clinicians may consider using the FPAS with cognitively intact adults to assess the functional impact of pain on pain intensity. Clinical nurse specialists play a pivotal role in role modeling and guiding the introduction and testing of new assessment approaches into clinical practice settings across the continuum of care.