Clinical nurse specialists who focus on breast cancer educate others about self-exams.
Clinical nurse specialists are advanced practice nurses. They follow the same basic education path as nurse practitioners, but they play a more supportive role, adding teaching, management and research to their basic nursing duties. Clinical nurse specialists usually focus on one type of disease. Cancer is an example. Oncology, or cancer, clinical nurse specialists can be even more specialized and work with one cancer type, such as breast cancer. To become a breast cancer clinical nurse specialist, you must complete the basic prerequisites for clinical nurse specialists and then focus your area of study.
Instructions
1. Apply to an accredited nursing school. Complete basic course work like nursing theory, health assessment, pharmacology and medical ethics. Ideally, get a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree to become a registered nurse (RN). You may become an RN with an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN), but if you do this, you'll have fewer options for the higher level education you need.
2. Take the National Council Licensure Exam for registered nurses (NCLEX-RN). This exam is a basic competency test you must have to get your nursing license. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) administers the test.
3. Apply for your nursing license through your state's licensing board.
4. Take the graduate record examination (GRE). This is another competency test you need to get into graduate school. Not all schools require you to take the GRE, so check the stipulations of the facility in which you're interested in for your master's or doctoral degree in nursing.
5. Get letters of recommendation to send to graduate schools with your application. Previous professors are good choices for writing these letters, as are previous health care employers you may have had.
6. Write a personal statement that explains why you want to become a clinical nurse specialist. Indicate in the personal statement that you want to pursue an oncology specialty and work with breast cancer patients.
7. Apply to an accredited master's or doctoral nursing program. Complete your course requirements, including the minimum of 500 clinical hours in oncology. Some programs do not make the clinical hours mandatory to your degree, instead allowing you to complete the hours as an internship after you get your master's or doctorate. Either way, the 500 hours is mandatory to get a job and practice.
8. Apply to basic nursing positions on oncology wards to gain experience. Your duties may be supervised or limited at this point.
9. Take the exam through the American Nurses Credentialing Center to become an Oncology Certified Nurse (OCN). Also take the exam through the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation to become an Advanced Oncology Certified Clinical Nurse Specialist (AOCNS).
10. Apply for full CNS positions on oncology wards. At this point, you should be able to work unsupervised with breast cancer patients.
Tags: nurse specialists, breast cancer, clinical nurse, Apply accredited, basic nursing, breast cancer
