A Database to Describe the Practice Component of the CNS Role

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of the database and its usefulness in describing clinical nurse specialist (CNS) practice, providing the CNS with clinical information about specific patients, and identifying patterns and trends about the care for the specialty patient population during a 3-month pilot period. The pilot revealed that the database, which included elements of clinical encounters between the CNS and patients, was useful in organizing clinical information about patients and the specialty population and in describing the nature of the CNS practice. It provided a quantitative description of the process of CNS functioning that, when combined with data about actions and outcomes, will allow relations to be drawn. The organizing framework of the database may be replicated by CNSs who are interested in describing the nature of their clinical practice.