Clinical Nurse Specialists
Health ScienceO*NET 29-1141.04United States
Direct nursing staff in the provision of patient care in a clinical practice setting, such as a hospital, hospice, clinic, or home. Ensure adherence to established clinical policies, protocols, regulations, and standards.
- Median annual earnings
- $97,284
- Projected change
- +8.7%
- Typical education
- Master's or Professional degree
- Employment
- 3.47M jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
95.2% of the workforce
Growing to 3.77M by 2035
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The work
What clinical nurse specialists do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Provide specialized direct and indirect care to inpatients and outpatients within a designated specialty, such as obstetrics, neurology, oncology, or neonatal care.
- Collaborate with other health care professionals and service providers to ensure optimal patient care.
- Read current literature, talk with colleagues, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in nursing.
- Maintain departmental policies, procedures, objectives, or infection control standards.
- Develop, implement, or evaluate standards of nursing practice in specialty area, such as pediatrics, acute care, and geriatrics.
- Instruct nursing staff in areas such as the assessment, development, implementation, and evaluation of disability, illness, management, technology, or resources.
- Develop and maintain departmental policies, procedures, objectives, or patient care standards, based on evidence-based practice guidelines or expert opinion.
- Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of nursing practice or organizational systems.
- Observe, interview, and assess patients to identify care needs.
- Provide direct care by performing comprehensive health assessments, developing differential diagnoses, conducting specialized tests, or prescribing medications or treatments.
- Monitor or evaluate medical conditions of patients in collaboration with other health care professionals.
- Provide coaching and mentoring to other caregivers to help facilitate their professional growth and development.
- Design evaluation programs regarding the quality and effectiveness of nursing practice or organizational systems.
- Provide consultation to other health care providers in areas such as patient discharge, patient care, or clinical procedures.
- Identify training needs or conduct training sessions for nursing students or medical staff.
- Coordinate or conduct educational programs or in-service training sessions on topics such as clinical procedures.
- Make clinical recommendations to physicians, other health care providers, insurance companies, patients, or health care organizations.
- Participate in clinical research projects, such as by reviewing protocols, reviewing patient records, monitoring compliance, and meeting with regulatory authorities.
- Design patient education programs that include information required to make informed health care and treatment decisions.
- Develop or assist others in development of care and treatment plans.
- Direct or supervise nursing care staff in the provision of patient therapy.
- Develop nursing service philosophies, goals, policies, priorities, or procedures.
- Present clients with information required to make informed health care and treatment decisions.
- Lead nursing department implementation of, or compliance with, regulatory or accreditation processes.
- Chair nursing departments or committees.
- Plan, evaluate, or modify treatment programs, based on information gathered by observing and interviewing patients or by analyzing patient records.
- Teach patient education programs that include information required to make informed health care and treatment decisions.
- Write nursing orders.
- Perform discharge planning for patients.
- Prepare reports to document patients' care activities.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $68,460
- 25th percentile
- $79,944
- 50th percentile
- $97,284
- 75th percentile
- $112,340
- 90th percentile
- $138,278
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $97,284 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+8.7%faster than average
20253,471,661 jobs
2035 projected3,774,431 jobs
302,770 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Master's or Professional degree
- 95.2%
- Doctoral degree or more
- 4.8%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Clinical Nurses Specialist435 postings
- 02Clinical Nurses Leader115 postings
- 03Clinical Nurses Specialist/Registered Nurses39 postings
- 04Nurse Specialists24 postings
- 05Perinatal Clinical Nurses Specialist19 postings
- 06Inpatient Nurses18 postings
- 07Advanced Practice Nurses14 postings
- 08Leasing Professionals11 postings
- 09Maternal Child Health Registered Nurses8 postings
- 10Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialists8 postings
- 11Practice Specialists8 postings
- 12Behavioral Health Specialists6 postings
- 13Clinical Specialists6 postings
- 14Nurse Education Specialists6 postings
- 15Vascular Access Specialists6 postings
- 16Wound Care Specialists6 postings
- 17Acute Care Specialists5 postings
- 18Clinical Ambulatory Nurses5 postings
- 19ECMO Specialists5 postings
- 20Inpatient Clinic Nurses5 postings
Top employers
- 01University Health63 postings
- 02Mayo Clinic45 postings
- 03Providence30 postings
- 04Duke University26 postings
- 05Kaiser Permanente19 postings
- 06Emory Healthcare18 postings
- 07Ou Health16 postings
- 08HCA Healthcare12 postings
- 09Hackensack Meridian Health12 postings
- 10UNC Health11 postings
- 11Advocate Aurora Health10 postings
- 12Beth Israel Lahey Health10 postings
- 13CommonSpirit Health9 postings
- 14Indiana University-Bloomington9 postings
- 15Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus9 postings
- 16Incredible Health8 postings
- 17Ascension7 postings
- 18Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin7 postings
- 19Job Talent7 postings
- 20Natividad7 postings
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