The Lived Experience of Clinical Nurse Specialist: A Phenomenological Study

Background/Objectives: Details of nursing services which are provided by CNS in Korea are ambiguous. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct the research based on the experiences of those who actually work. Methods/Statistical analysis: This research is a qualitative study using Colazzi’s approach to identify clinical nurse specialist's experiences in depth and describe the meanings. Study participants were six clinical nurse specialists who agreed to participate in the research at A University Hospital in Korea. Findings: Extracted data which were acquired from original raw data by 6 research participants could be structured into 20 meanings, 6 topics and 2 categories. Study results showed that the participants felt the fear of work, burden about patient's condition, alienation due to the lack of belonging and the pressure about self-development. However, in the aspects of duties and relationships, they determine to become the top. There are very few follow-up studies after clinical nurse specialist area was recognized legally, and therefore, it is difficult to collect diverse data about personal satisfaction, problems and alternatives for various duties and roles. Result of this study will be helpful to identify the experiences of clinical nurse specialists in depth experiences Improvements/Applications: Results of this study can be used as basic data to understand the experiences of clinical nurse specialists. The researcher suggests the study of role and job development.