What do you think of Clinical Nurse Leaders (CNL)?

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Considering entering into nursing through a direct entry CNL Masters Program. Do you know of CNL's at your place of work? My plan would be to start my career as a Staff nurse and from there decide when and if I would want to start working in a CNL role. I have seen a couple of very negative posts about CNL programs and CNL's job opportunities.. so just wanted to ask once more, get some feedback.

Thanks!

We have a highly educated nurse at work who is good at certain tasks and has a lot of book knowledge, but she is bumbling and totally inept at floor nursing. She was taken off the floor and put on the treatment cart because she would do things like give all the meds (she is day shift 7-3). I'm talking "all" the meds (there would be no med pass for the oncoming nurse.) She would do it all, change patches delegated to the evening shift, do dressings, etc.. She was diligent about assessing and wrote flawless nursing notes, was very attentive to patients, but the woman can't do a normal med pass...I know she is in graduate school and I believe it is for a CNL or a CNS.

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Hi, I was wondering if there's been any updates to CNLs being more respected and gaining more duties other than a beside nurse with a master degree? What's the job market like for CNLs today? Anyone know what they're being paid salary-wise? I agree that the programs are extremely overpriced ($80k+), but I think it might be a good fit for me since it's very accelerated, only 2 years to get a masters from not having any kind of nursing background (I have a BA in another field).

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The CLN program at GRU question: Does this program only begin every Fall or every semester? How many hours a week could I expect to dedicate to the program? Is it as intense as the BSN ACE programs I've looked into where they say 'you will not have a life for 16 months and plan to dedicate 81 hours a week to the program'?

I have a Bachelors in another area and have wanted to go into nursing now for several years. The timing is right and I'm now taking the prerequisites needed to get into nursing programs. I'm trying to find the best track for me. Any feedback would be helpful I'm sure.

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The CLN program at GRU question: Does this program only begin every Fall or every semester? How many hours a week could I expect to dedicate to the program? Is it as intense as the BSN ACE programs I've looked into where they say 'you will not have a life for 16 months and plan to dedicate 81 hours a week to the program'?

I have a Bachelors in another area and have wanted to go into nursing now for several years. The timing is right and I'm now taking the prerequisites needed to get into nursing programs. I'm trying to find the best track for me. Any feedback would be helpful I'm sure.

The program starts in the fall only. It is an accelerated program, so yes... Expect to be seriously busy. The clinical hours are a couple of hundred extra hours than the gru bsn program, graduate level classes and projects/ presentations. No summer breaks. I start next week. :-). Good luck with whatever you decide.

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I looked at doing a CNL program, but ended up in ABSN/MSN due to my career goals. Making it a Master's changes your federal financial status to graduate student. If you already have a bachleor's, you are not eligible for certain federal aid programs. If you do a second-degree BSN program, you might be less financial aid. You can get more aid if you are a graduate student if you have a previous bachelors. Check out federal aid websites and talk to school administrators about this stuff if you have questions.

I have not idea about the market for CNL. But if you want to pursue an advance degree (Advance Practice Role, ect) at some point in time, SOME states require a BSN. An MSN cannot be used to fulfill the requirement.

Yes a master's can be used. It's called post graduate for a reason.

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I'm thinking of enrolling in a CNL program. I see it as an advanced generalist degree, I do not expect to be able to do anything special with it. Since I already have a BS, I prefer to get a masters instead of a BSN

Everyone says you won't be a competent nurse with these direct entry programs, but I'm confused. Are you a competent nurse with a bsn or do you do clinicals and get experience through internships/externships and job experience once you complete your degree....you know just like any other program? This is me being sarcastic. I'm tired of seeing people talking crap about the cnl program or other DE options like the people just take classes with no clinicals or internships. So annoying. Seems to me like a lot of them are jealous they didn't decide to go back for a graduate degree.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moved to general specialties

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
Everyone says you won't be a competent nurse with these direct entry programs, but I'm confused. Are you a competent nurse with a bsn or do you do clinicals and get experience through internships/externships and job experience once you complete your degree....you know just like any other program? This is me being sarcastic. I'm tired of seeing people talking crap about the cnl program or other DE options like the people just take classes with no clinicals or internships. So annoying. Seems to me like a lot of them are jealous they didn't decide to go back for a graduate degree.

While I am sure there are some people who are "just jealous," .... some of us mean something different when we bring up the new grad competence issue. The new grad CNLs (and other DE programs) I have know have been very realistic about their level of clinical competence when they are just graduating and started their nursing careers. They have understood that there is a certain type of competence that only comes after graduation, when the new nurse actually experiences the reality of working as a new nurses for a while. That is true regardless of the level of education the new grad nurse has.

However, there have been some people who have mistakenly believed that someone who graduates from a DE program is automatically an expert and qualified to be a leader of nurses the moment they graduate -- even though they have never worked as a nurse before. They've had the clinical rotations in school, but that is all. The clinical experiences one has in school are not enough (in any type of program) to qualify someone as an expert. So ... the general consensus within the profession is that new grads from DE programs should get some"real world" work experience before they expect other nurses to look to them for leadership and/or expertise.

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