If you have patience, are understanding, caring and want to have influence on patient care situations and make a difference, you might want to give some thought to becoming a clinical nurse consultant as your choice of nursing career.
Areas you could consider working in
There are many different areas to consider looking into and some of these are listed below.
Diseases – if you want to specialize in diseases, there are numerous options that are available to you. For instance, you could choose diabetes or heart disease as your specialist field, and there are many more.
Environments in the medical field – you may choose to focus on the emergency room, operating room or a critical care unit.
Patients – you could go into working with patients, for example in areas such as neo-natal or geriatric.
Procedures – you may choose to major in such areas as clinical or surgical procedures.
Duties that could make up the daily routine
There are five duties, which could make up your day-to-day routine as a clinical nurse consultant:
Case management
Research
Consulting
Clinical practice
Teaching
If you want to be a central player at work and have the ability to organize and co-ordinate, then this could be the perfect job for you. Being able to educate is also an asset worth having when going into this branch of nursing. Education responsibilities are wide spread and could include patient, nursing staff, community, as well as student teaching on your part.
Working alone or part of a team
While in some areas, this type of nursing may involve working alone, but it can also involve working closely with others as part of a team. For instance, you may work in a hospital, a care facility or within an agency. Of course, whether you work alone or as part of a team may depend on the area you choose to specialize in. Here are some that you may want to consider
Acute care – if you were to specialize in this area you would be providing advanced care to those who are suffering severe but brief illness or injury. You would be helping to diagnose and treat and collaborate with other members of a team.
Infectious diseases – you may be part of a team that specializes in monitoring and preventing the spread of infections that are resistant to drugs.
Occupational health – you may specialize in promoting health and education of others in the prevention of injury or diseases.
Rehabilitation – you may choose to work with individuals who need rehabilitation to recover from injury or illness.
Womens’ health – you could choose to specialize in areas such as gynecological or reproduction in women’s health.
There are so many more areas and programs that are available as a clinical nurse consultant, and we have only scratched the surface with the above specialties. If you’re considering becoming a a clinical nurse consultant, review all of the areas carefully, and then choose the one that you know that will fit into your special gifts and talents, and one that you will find rewarding and satisfying.