Clinical Nurse Leader Role in Psychiatric Department

CNL Role in Psychiatric Department

Never has it been more critical to provide high quality care in the hospital while being cost effective. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2005) has created the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) role to introduce lateral integration of care for specified groups by creatively and intentionally using a variety of health care resources (AACN, 2005). The CNL’s purpose is to aid in various departments of the health care system including the psychiatric department. Although there is continuous tension between medical care and psychiatric care and choosing which is more important for a patient, the Clinical Nurse Leader is intended to bridge the gap between the two.

The goal in creating the position of Clinical Nurse Leader in inpatient psychiatric facilities is to reorient the health care system to reduce medical errors, increase patients’ safety, and improve health outcomes (Seed, Torkelson, & Karshmer, 2009). The CNL is not common in the psychiatric care setting right now because the role is fairly new (Seed, Torkelson, & Karshmer, 2009). However, the role has impacted other departments greatly and has the capacity to do the same in inpatient psychiatric care. Through describing the relevance and importance of the CNL role within the Medince/Psychiatric (Med/Psych) department, what the team would look like (the integration of the two departments), and future implications of the nursing profession, there will be a better understanding of the impact of the evidence-based model implemented through future CNL’s.

Relevance of the CNL Role to the Psychiatric Department

Although the CNL role is fairly new to the health care system, it has impac...

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