Family Nurse Practitioner Vs Clinical Nurse Specialist

The clinical nursing specialist (CNS) is defined as an expert with specialized training to care for patients with expanded range of research-based, theoretical and practical competence. The clinical nursing specialists is expert in clinical nursing specialty, uses skills and in-depth knowledge, clinical experience to provide solutions for challenging health care issues. In the other hand family nurse practitioner is defined as a registered nurse with additional experience and preparation who is competent to interpret diagnostic tests and prescribe medication to the family. Empirical evidence indicated that nursing practice is key to health care system. Statistics have shown that nurse staffing correlates with patients’ outcome in the nursing practice environment.

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Family nurse practitioners continues to develop because of the reforms in the healthcare system. The reforms in nurse practice include improvement in the education system and increased aged population. In the developed countries, home care for patients is preferred than admission in hospitals. As a result, family nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialist are continuously developing. Family nurse practitioners play crucial role in caring for aged population in home setting. According to this article, clinical nurse specialist focus on specific care in the health care system. Although the definition of family nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists differ, they have commonality in three aspects: practice, graduate education and nursing expertise. The increasing demand for nurses in home care make the diverse role of family nurse practitioners to be recognized in western countries.

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Many factors is attributed to the growth of family nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists. These include cost-effectiveness, improved nursing education and vacation time. Studies indicated that clinical nurse specialists is comparatively slowly growing in developing countries as compared to western countries. This is because the clinical nurse specialists is expected to be skilled in responses to illness and diagnosis of disease, management of symptom, care coordination, consultation as well as the management of medical care. Initially, clinical nurse specialists was perceived to be working in impoverished areas such as in disease specific related chronic care facilities. However, progressive growth in healthcare system have change the narrative and make the working environment more conducive.

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