Press Room

The National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists today announced the formation of a new institute to develop and promote education, innovations in clinical practice, and scientific research that will advance the clinical nurse specialist role and improve patient care. The CNS Institute is the charitable arm of NACNS.

The CNS Institute Board of Trustees includes:

Melissa Craft, PhD, APRN-CNS, AOCN (Chair), Assistant Professor; Director, CNS Program; Interim Director, PhD Program at Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.

Susan Fowler, RN, PhD, CNRN, FAHA (Vice Chair), Interim Leader, B. E. Smith, Lenexa, Kansas.

Anne Hysong, MSN, APRN, CCNS (Secretary), CNS at Gwinnett Medical Center in Duluth, Georgia.

Nancy Albert, PhD, CCNS, CHFN, CCRN, NE-BC, FAHA, FCCM, FAAN (Treasurer), Associate Chief Nursing Officer – Research and Innovation, Cleveland Clinic Health System and CNS – Kaufman Center for Heart Failure, Heart and Vascular Institute in Cleveland, Ohio.

Gayle Timmerman, PhD, RN, CNS, FAAN, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing.

“We are extremely excited to be launching this new venture,” said Craft. “The CNS Institute will help to improve CNS education, practice and research so that we can do even more to ensure that health care teams are effectively delivering high quality, evidence-based, patient-centered care.”

There are roughly 72,000 CNSs in the United States. The biennial CNS Census conducted by NACNS in 2014 revealed that they tend to be concentrated in adult care or gerontology, and two-thirds (66 percent) work in hospital settings. Of those, more than two in five (44 percent) have responsibility across the entire hospital system. As a group, CNSs spend most of their time providing direct patient care, consulting with nurses, staff and others, teaching nurses and staff, and leading evidence-based practice projects (14 percent).