Congress Abstracts 2006

93

CLINICAL NURSE RESOURCE: A NEW ROLE DESIGNED TO SUPPLEMENT VACANT CLINICAL NURSE SPECIALIST POSITIONS. Patricia Johnston, RN, MHA, OCN^®, Amy Meyers, RN, BSN, OCN^®, Zandra Rivera, RN, MSN, OCN^®, Carol Causton, RN, OCN^®, and Lourine Davis, RN, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) perform a critical role in leading efforts to improve outcomes affecting the oncology patient. Through direct intervention, promotion of clinical assessment skills, critical thinking, advanced clinical skills and knowledge, and interactions with the interdisciplinary team, the CNS works to advance oncology nursing practice as direct care providers, consultants, educators, patient and system advocates, team coordinators, program designers, administrators and/or researchers. With the downsizing of the CNS role in hospital and institutional settings, this has led to a steady decline in the number of applicants entering CNS academic programs. As a result, institutions that value the CNS role, and the expertise they provide in highly complex patient care environments, have experienced long-standing vacancies.

Due to the inability to fill two vacant CNS positions on the Blood & Marrow Transplant Unit (BMT), a method was undertaken to identify and recognize experienced clinical nurses who could practice as unit resources and contribute to the mentoring, support, and development of patient care providers and evidence-based indicators on the inpatient unit. The Clinical Nurse Resource (CNR) position was developed to address this need.

A position description including essential functions in clinical practice, education, collaboration/consultation, research, quality improvement, and leadership was formulated. Performance criteria in clinical practice included serving as a clinical expert in BMT and promoting excellence in clinical nursing practice through assessment, interaction with staff, the interdisciplinary team and evaluation of patient care. The CNR was required to demonstrate defined leadership skills in the profession of nursing. Outcomes of the CNR positions were documented on a developed evaluation tool.

Value of the CNR position was immediately achieved with positive outcomes. Some of these included mentorship/coaching of new BMT clinical staff, development of new standard operating procedures and an evidence-based research project to reduce the incidence of falls on the unit.

The CNR position on the inpatient BMT unit has proven beneficial as an alternative to fulfill the desired role of the CNS.