Every 2 years, the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists surveys nurses who are enrolled in or have completed a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) program to gather information on this population of practitioners. A few highlights include: • Most CNSs are based in hospitals (34.7%). Of those, more than half have responsibility for an entire system. • In addition to a master’s degree, one in 10 also holds a doctorate. • One in five CNSs have prescriptive authority, of whom 61% use it.
Source: American Journal of Nursing, September 2017.
