Nursing Clinical Specialty Coordinator

In a hospital or nursing home, the staff relies on a series of “orders” to help plan the workday. These orders can cover everything from the food the patient eats to the tests the patient endures that day. Often, patients believe that their Doctors are responsible for all of the day’s plans. The fact is that, in most large facilities, a Nursing Clinical Specialty Coordinator comes up with these marching orders.

As a Nursing Clinical Specialty Coordinator, you’re given a set of patients to supervise. At the beginning of your shift, you look over the charts of each patient, and you determine how that person is being managed. Often, you ask specialists such as Cardiologists, Neurologists, and Gerontologists to look over the patients in your facility. Sometimes, you help these professionals conduct their tests.

When the testing and examinations are complete, you make sure the treatment plans outlined by the Doctors are followed to the letter. As a Nursing Clinical Specialty Coordinator, you also outline the order in which such things should be done. You might recommend that the person has a hip X-ray for the Surgeon before running on a treadmill for the Cardiologist, for example.

In some cases, you even suggest a few treatment options that the Doctors should consider, based on your hospital’s rules. Your facility might require all heart patients to walk down the hall each day, for example, and you might remind the Doctor to put that note in the patient’s chart.

As a senior staff member, you’re also asked to train new staff members and make sure they’re doing their jobs properly.