The contribution and focus of clinical nurse specialists in intellectual disability nursing: an Irish perspective

Abstract

The idea of advanced practice is not new in nursing and clinical nurse specialists have an important role in advancing the profession of nursing. In Ireland clinical nurse specialists posts were introduced in 2001 across all disciplines of nursing (General, Mental Health, Intellectual Disability, Children’s Nursing and Maternity). This created an opportunity to consider the contribution of clinical nurse specialists to practice in intellectual disability as their equivalent posts are not available in other countries. This unique opportunity would assist in highlighting the work of clinical nurse specialists and add to the existing knowledge on this topic area.

This study sought to explore the contribution of intellectual disability clinical nurse specialists in Ireland. A four phase study was undertaken to investigate the clinical nurse specialists’ contribution. Phase one utilised five focus group interviews conducted with 31 clinical nurse specialists throughout Ireland to gain their perception of their contribution. Phase two involved a national survey of all intellectual disability clinical nurse specialists in Ireland utilising a questionnaire developed from phase one of the study. Phase three surveyed healthcare professionals (nurses, nurse managers and multidisciplinary team members) within services to identify their perceptions of the contribution of the intellectual disability clinical nurse specialist. The survey instrument was an adaptation of the questionnaire developed and utilised in phase two of the study. Phase four of the study involved ten interviews with parents of children in receipt of a service from an intellectual disability clinical nurse specialist to identify their perception of the service received.

The study highlighted that the clinical nurse specialists play an important role in service provision and support clients, staff, families, the organisation, other agencies and team members within their role. Predominately their role was related to direct care, advocacy, education and consultancy. Research and audit were acknowledged as a component of their work but were given less priority. In order to further develop these components of their role the CNS requires supports and resources to assist them to actively engage in conducting research. Recommendations regarding practice, education, research and management are made for the future and it is imperative that all CNS engage with each component of their role and make their contributions visible to all through research, publications, conference, service evaluation and audits that include consumer satisfaction.

Date of Award	Jan 2013
Original language	English
Supervisor	Eamonn Slevin (Supervisor) & Laurence Taggart (Supervisor)