Clinical Nurse Specialist Subspecialties:
Acute Care:
This is an area of secondary health care in which a patient gets active but short-term treatment for a serious injury or illness. Acute Care is the opposite of chronic care. This type of care is often delivered by teams of health care professionals working together.
Adult Health:
Numerous physical, emotional, mental and social factors affect adult health. Social factors such as income, education and race directly affect the adult health population. Physical factors affecting health are illness, diet, exercise, genetic inheritance, alcohol and smoking.
Chronic Care:
Refers to medical care that addresses long term illness. Acute care is focused on short term care. Some chronic medical conditions are asthma, congestive heart disease and hypertension.
Clinical Nurse Specialist:
Is an advanced practice nurse, with a masters or doctorate. They work with other nurses to improve their nursing practices and offer clinical expertise to help implement system-wide changes for improvement. Examples of different specialties are pediatrics, critical care, diabetes, psychiatric and wounds.
Community Health/Public Health:
This public health field is a discipline concerned with the study and bettering of the health characteristics of biological communities. It focuses on geographical areas. Public and Community Health systems focus on educating the public on good healthy living and prevention tactics.
Critical Care Medicine:
Critical Care Medicine is also known as Intensive-Care Medicine. It is focused with the provision of life support or various organ support systems in patients that are very ill and require constant monitoring. Critical Care is only offered to patients that have a good change of reversing their condition.
Emergency:
Is a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, property, life or the environment. They need urgent intervention to keep the situation from getting worse. A natural disaster is an emergency that is self evident.
Ethics:
This is also know as moral philosophy. It's an area of philosophy that focuses on questions about morality. Concepts such as good and evil are addressed. Ethics in medicine are often difficult to deal with.
Family Health:
Is the health status of the family as a unit. This includes the impact of the health of one member on everybody else. Along with the impact of family organization on the health status of the family as a whole.
Gerontology:
Gerontology is studying social, biological, psychological and different aspects of the aging. The multidisciplinary nature of gerontology suggests there are a number of sub-fields. It is closely associated with psychology, and sociology.
Holistic:
Holistic health is a concept in medical practice that deals with all aspects of a person's needs, psychological, physical and social. This view is widely accepted throughout medicine. Alternative medicine believes that disease is a result of emotional, physical, social, spiritual and environmental imbalances.
Home Health:
Is health care or supportive care offered in the home by qualified medical professionals. Home Health care is provided by various health professionals including physiotherapists, doctors, nurses, social workers and psychologists to name a few.
Informatics:
Is the multidisciplinary study of exactly how people transform technology and how it transforms us. It looks at the intersection of people, technology and information systems and the expanding relationship between various information systems and the daily lives of people at work and home. Informatics has developed new uses for extensive information technology.
Long-Term Care:
Is numerous services that help need the medical and non-medical needs of people with chronic illness or disabilities. Both non-skilled and custodial care are normally involved. Long Term Care is normally needed for older people but can be required for people of any age.
Medical-Surgical:
This refers to the information about procedures done in medicine and surgery. Medical-Surgical nursing is focused with the care of adult patients in a large range of settings. Medical focuses on the diagnosis and surgical focuses on treatment.
Neonatal:
Is also referred to as NICU. It is also called a Special Care Nursery, newborn intensive care unit, intensive care nursery and special baby unit. Neonatal deals with the care of ill or premature infants.
Neuroscience:
Refers to scientifically studying the nervous system. Neuroscience has traditionally been seen as a specialized branch of biology. Although it's an interdisciplinary science that works with other fields like math, science, medicine and chemistry. Neuroscience has broadened to include numerous different approaches to study the cellular, molecular, structural, developmental, computational, evolutionary and medical parameters of the nervous system.
Occupational Health:
Is concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people that work or are employed. This term is often expanded to Occupational Heath and Safety. A specific medical area of Occupational Health is occupational medicine.
Oncology:
Oncology is the branch of medicine dealing with tumors that are cancerous. An Oncologist is a doctor that practices specifically in oncology. It is concerned with diagnosing cancer, therapy, follow-up, palliative care and screening.
Oncology, Pediatrics:
This pertains to the period just prior to a surgical procedure. It often commences with the preparation of the patient. It ends with the administering of anesthesia in the operating room.
Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist:
Pediatrics is the division of medicine that offers medical care to infants, children, and adolescents. A Pediatrician is a medical practitioner who specializes in this area offering medical treatment for adolescents and younger.
Perinatal:
This refers to the period immediately before and after birth. It is often defined in diverse ways. Normally this period in time starts between the twentieth and twenty eighth week of gestation and ends one to four weeks after the delivery.
Perioperative:
The objective of a Perioperative visit is to meet the patient, identify the problem and review any concerns regarding anesthesiology. Along with looking for any potential drug reactions, assess the patients airways and review any potential investigations that may be required. Finally the anesthetic technique needs planning, information needs to be given to patient and family, pre-medications will be ordered and postoperative care needs to be set up.
Psychiatric/Mental Health:
Refers to people that suffer from mental distress or illness, such as bipolar disorder, depression, dementia, psychosis or schizophrenia. With this comes behavioral challenges, taking psychiatric medications, along with numerous psychological therapies and other therapies. Therapeutic therapy is extremely beneficial is this area of mental health.
Psychiatric/Mental Health, Adult:
An area dealing with mental illness or mental distress in adults. Examples are bipolar disorder, psychosis and depression. As well as schizophrenia or dementia.
Psychiatric/Mental Health, Child and Adolescent:
This area deals with childhood mental illness or mental distress. Common mental health issues include depression, anxiety, behavior disorders and ADHD. These disorders can cause issues at home, school and within the community if they aren't addressed.
Psychiatric/Mental Health, Child and Family:
Child and Family Mental Health involves numerous health care providers. About fifteen percent of the population has children with mental health disorders. Numerous community organizations offer a wide range of community-based mental health services to mentally ill children and their families.
Psychiatric/Mental Health, Chronically Ill:
People that are chronically ill are more likely to have mental health issues than a health individual. For example, studies have shown that chronically ill patients are more likely to be abused, sexually, physically and emotionally. Their mental illness may be intensified because of their poor health status.
Psychiatric/Mental Health, Community:
Is also known as Community Mental Health Teams. They support people with mental disorders in a domiciliary setting, instead of an asylum. The community mental health services vary greatly.
Psychiatric/Mental Health, Geropsychiatric:
Individuals that suffer from mental or emotional illness affect everyone in the family. This discipline requires quality care to assess, diagnose and treat acute mental health problems in geriatric patients. Various services that might be offered are assessment and diagnosis, individual and group therapy, treatment plans utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach.
Rehabilitation:
Refers to the restoration of someone to a useful place in our society. It's the complex process of restoring skills to a person that has had an injury or illness. For example, rehabilitation after a stroke might help a person speak and talk again.
School:
Is an institution used from teaching students under the control of teachers. There are a multitude of schools available for study. The School Of Medicine is where a soon to be doctor would study.
Transplantation:
This involves moving an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's body, in order to replace the recipient's damaged organ. Organs that can be transplanted are the eyes, liver, lungs, pancreas, heart, kidneys, intestine and thymus.
Womens Health:
Refers to health issues specific to females. They often relate to the female genitalia and breasts. As well as conditions caused by hormones specific to females.