Clinical Nurse Leader Salary: How Much Do They Earn?
When it comes to choosing a career, salary is among the crucial factors that affect our decision. With healthcare jobs being in high demand, choosing a career in this industry comes with great employment opportunities and satisfying incomes. The clinical nurse leader is an attractive position for people who want to help patients by improving the quality of their health care.
If you are interested in becoming a clinical nurse leader, you can learn more about the profession by reading this article. Here you can find information about the clinical nurse leader's salary, job outlook, responsibilities, and the requirements of becoming a CNL.
Clinical Nurse Leader Job Responsibilities
A clinical nurse leader (CNL) is a registered nurse with an advanced degree responsible for ensuring high-quality healthcare. They coordinate every aspect of patient care and make sure everything runs smoothly. The ANCC argues that the clinical leader is not to mixed with the role of an administrator or manager; it is a leader directing healthcare delivery in all settings. CNLs collaborate with other healthcare professionals, linking nursing departments and hospital administration and improving communication between them. In addition, they assure that the medical staff is trained on best practices and has skill advancement opportunities.
Clinical nurse leaders work to improve patient outcomes by taking on various duties. Their responsibilities may differ depending on the facility where they work. But, in general, if you become a CNL, you can expect to be responsible for the following:
Coordinating direct care activities of the nursing staff
Evaluating healthcare treatments
Researching industry technology trends
Assessing potential risks
Collecting and analyzing patient outcomes data
Implementing new internal policies
Educating patients on their health
Discussing patient care plans with healthcare professionals
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Clinical Nurse Leader Education & Qualifications
To put it simply, becoming a clinical nurse leader requires an advanced degree and CNL certification. If you are interested in starting your nurse journey, you may want to begin by pursuing a BSN degree. Meanwhile, if you are already an RN without a BSN degree, there are RN to BSN bridge programs available to enable you to apply for your master's degree. Please read on below as we go through each requirement of the CNL journey.
BSN degree
To meet the conditions for CNL certification, you need to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree to then move on to an advanced degree.
RN license
The following requirement is becoming an RN. To be able to apply for your RN license, you need to take the NCLEX examination. After you pass the exam, obtain your RN license, and become a licensed RN with a BSN degree under your belt, you are eligible to pursue a graduate degree and get your CNL certification.
If you are an RN who holds only an associate degree in nursing (ADN), you can earn your BSN through an RN-to-BSN bridge program or choose an RN-to-MSN program with CNL training.
MSN degree
As we already established, a CNL is a nurse that holds a graduate degree, like a Master of Science in Nursing. According to the AACN, clinical nurse leaders must have an advanced degree since a high level of knowledge and clinical competence is needed in this position.
Graduating from a CNL program makes you eligible to sit for the Commission on Nurse Certification (CNC) CNL exam. It is required that a master's-level CNL curriculum focuses on three main aspects:
Master's Graduate Nursing Core
Direct Care Core ( including coursework in physiology/pathophysiology, health assessment, and pharmacology)
CNL Role Competencies & Clinical Expectations
In addition, the program must include a minimum of 400 hours of supervised clinical practice.
On the other hand, if you are an RN holding an MSN degree in a non-CNL specialization, you can complete a post-master's CNL program that prepares you for the CNL certification exam. As a post-master's student, you need at least 300 hours in a supervised clinical practicum, practicing the CNL role.
CNL certification
The last requirement to earn those credentials is passing the CNL certification exam offered by the Commission on Nurse Certification (CNC). After getting certified, you will be eligible to start working as a CNL.
Clinical Nurse Leader Job Outlook
Due to the need for leaders in the healthcare system, the CNL role was introduced by the AACN in 2004. Leadership roles are still essential to direct and improve patient care in clinical environments. This makes the CNL job position quite demanding in the USA.
Since it is a relatively new role, there is no BLS data for the CLN job outlook. However, since a clinical leader is also a registered nurse, let us check the RN job outlook. It is estimated that registered nurses will have employment growth of 9% from 2020 to 2030, as fast as the average growth for all occupations. In addition, employment in all healthcare occupations is projected to grow by 16% during this decade.
Clinical Nurse Leader Salary
To learn more about the CNL profession, let's check how much money you can make if you pursue this career. According to the latest data, an MSN clinical nurse leader's salary is approximately $104,107 annually. So, you can expect to make about $50.05 an hour working as a CNL.
Factors that might impact the salary
However, the clinical nurse leader's salary may vary depending on various aspects. Geographical location, workplace, and experience are all factors that impact a nurse leader's salary.
Location
Location is crucial to consider when applying for CNL jobs. That is because the salary tends to vary greatly depending on where you work. New York City offers the highest paying for clinical nurse leaders, providing an average salary of $121,506 per year. Other high-paying locations include San Mateo, CA, Boston, MA, and Juneau, AK.
Here is a list of the ten highest-paying cities for clinical nurse leader jobs, together with the median annual salary:
New York City, NY, $121,506
San Mateo, CA, $119,902
Boston, MA, $116,044
Juneau, AK, $116,031
Berkeley, CA, $115,233
Daly City, CA, $114,907
Santa Monica, CA, $114,696
Quincy, MA, $114,220
Renton, WA, $114,161
Richmond, CA, $113,151
Workplace
Another factor you need to consider when looking for a job as a clinical nurse leader is the actual workplace. Will you work in a hospital or a private healthcare facility? There are various settings available for CLNs, but each position's demand for CNLs can vary, thus affecting the salary offered.
Experience
Last but not least, your job experience will definitely impact your earnings. Usually, you can expect to earn less at the beginning of your career. Then gradually, as you increase the number of years you work as a CNL, your salary will get higher too.
As an entry-level CNL, you can have an average salary of $71,000 per year. Meanwhile, when you gain experience and become a professional CNL, you can earn up to $166,000 annually.
Conclusion
The clinical nurse leader position is an excellent option for people interested in an advanced nursing career. Your primary responsibility is coordinating patient care, thus improving its overall quality.
By earning an MSN with a CNL specialization and getting certified, you can start working as a clinical nurse leader and benefit from the lucrative salaries that come with this job.