What does a clinical specialist do?
A Clinical Specialists role is to assist in the selling of particular medical devices that need more detailed and complex knowledge. They work in laboratories as part of a team of technologists, technicians, and supervisors.
Clinical specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real clinical specialist resumes:
- Collaborate with teams managing Medicare / Medicaid (CMS) requirements to increase care access for all patients.
- Manage CNS supervise hospital base cardiac surgery clinic.
- Collaborate with ambulatory practice managers as lead patient scheduler to develop back office scheduler position to manage all disease group patients.
- Monitor patients with implant devices and provide ongoing programming recommendations to cardiologists and surgical staff.
- Monitor documentation to ensure compliance with ICH GCP guidelines and interact with regulatory team members.
- Serve as NRP and BLS instructor.
- Optimize CRF's for multimillion-dollar NIH clinical trial.
- Advance skill in the interpretation of IEGM for all arrhythmia classifications.
- Train, mentor and evaluate new employees hire into the CAS role.
- Explain to patients with compassion pre and post instructions for the medical exam.
- Identify opportunities and troubleshoot to improve processes and implement change for an effective outcome.
- Use HL7 knowledge to expertly troubleshoot interface errors and interpret log and queue entries.
- Instruct radiologists on how to use DynaCAD as a tool to aid in reading breast MRI exams.
- Float position to provide relief to facility base CRC's and facilitate timely and accurate completion of MDS.
- Direct complex instrument installations and troubleshooting in outside regions, foster teaching and mentoring relationship with new CAS's.
Clinical specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 21% of Clinical Specialists are proficient in Patients, Excellent Interpersonal, and Patient Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Emotional stability, and Physical stamina.
We break down the percentage of Clinical Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 21%
Collaborated with ambulatory practice managers as lead patient scheduler to develop back office scheduler position to manage all disease group patients.
- Excellent Interpersonal, 7%
Demonstrated a high degree of professional competence as practitioner, educator, consultant and researcher and exhibited excellent interpersonal skills.
- Patient Care, 6%
Leveraged clinical expertise to grow sales by acquiring referrals, patient care coordination, Internal customer relationships/referrals and admission to services.
- Clinical Support, 6%
Oversee progress of strategic plan implementation, providing operational and clinical support, and proactively identify/address any issues for these initiatives.
- Customer Service, 5%
Provide customer service on behalf of United Allergy Services by developing relationships with providers and patients within contracted clinics.
- Technical Support, 4%
Provide technical support during surgical device implantation and with reprogramming and follow- ups in hospitals and clinics across Arizona.
Most clinical specialists use their skills in "patients," "excellent interpersonal," and "patient care" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential clinical specialist responsibilities here:
Detail oriented. The most essential soft skill for a clinical specialist to carry out their responsibilities is detail oriented. This skill is important for the role because "registered nurses must be precise because they must ensure that patients get the correct treatments and medicines at the right time." Additionally, a clinical specialist resume shows how their duties depend on detail oriented: "completed detailed training on epic careconnect emr system, provided support during end-user training. "
Emotional stability. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling clinical specialist duties is emotional stability. The role rewards competence in this skill because "registered nurses need emotional resilience and the ability to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stressors." According to a clinical specialist resume, here's how clinical specialists can utilize emotional stability in their job responsibilities: "provided/linked mental health services too emotionally and behaviorally challenged children. "
Physical stamina. clinical specialists are also known for physical stamina, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to clinical specialist responsibilities, because "nurses should be comfortable performing physical tasks, such as lifting patients." A clinical specialist resume example shows how physical stamina is used in the workplace: "arranged for home health for physical, occupational, speech therapies, or outpatient therapies. "
Compassion. A big part of what clinical specialists do relies on "compassion." You can see how essential it is to clinical specialist responsibilities because "registered nurses should be caring and empathetic when working with patients." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical clinical specialist tasks: "explained to patients with compassion pre and post instructions for the medical exam. "
Organizational skills. Another common skill required for clinical specialist responsibilities is "organizational skills." This skill comes up in the duties of clinical specialists all the time, as "nurses often work with multiple patients who have a variety of health needs." An excerpt from a real clinical specialist resume shows how this skill is central to what a clinical specialist does: "evaluated patient care data to ensure that care is provided in accordance with clinical guidelines and organizational standards. "
Communication skills. Another skill commonly found on clinical specialist job descriptions is "communication skills." It can come up quite often in clinical specialist duties, since "registered nurses must be able to communicate effectively with patients in order to understand their concerns and evaluate their health conditions." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day clinical specialist responsibilities: "acted as a back office communications officer for an fda audit. "
The three companies that hire the most clinical specialists are:
- Sedgwick LLP164 clinical specialists jobs
- Visionworks153 clinical specialists jobs
- Abbott128 clinical specialists jobs
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Compare different clinical specialists
Clinical specialist vs. Knowledge management specialist
The duties of a knowledge management analyst depend on one's place or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around providing employees with technical support materials, gathering instructional information and insights from experts, and turning it into a structured digital or written material that employees can use as a learning tool. Moreover, they may devise programs and workshops for trainees and new employees, develop strategies for optimal workforce performance, and coordinate with department supervisors to identify employees' needs.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, clinical specialist responsibilities require skills like "excellent interpersonal," "patient care," "clinical support," and "work ethic." Meanwhile a typical knowledge management specialist has skills in areas such as "project management," "powerpoint," "knowledge management," and "logistics." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Knowledge management specialists tend to make the most money working in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $75,090. In contrast, clinical specialists make the biggest average salary, $79,126, in the pharmaceutical industry.The education levels that knowledge management specialists earn slightly differ from clinical specialists. In particular, knowledge management specialists are 5.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a clinical specialist. Additionally, they're 2.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical specialist vs. Clinical manager
A clinical manager is responsible for monitoring medical procedures and administrative duties to ensure the smooth flow of operations in a healthcare facility. Clinical managers manage the facility's staffing needs, evaluate budget reports, assist healthcare professionals on administering medical duties, and develop strategic procedures to optimize treatments and maximize productivity. A clinical manager enforces strict sanitary and safety regulations for everyone's strict compliance. They also need to have excellent knowledge of the medical industry to promote medical processes and provide the highest quality care.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real clinical specialist resumes. While clinical specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "patient care," "clinical support," "technical support," and "work ethic," clinical managers use skills like "direct patient care," "quality patient care," "patient education," and "process improvement."
On average, clinical managers earn a higher salary than clinical specialists. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, clinical managers earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $72,510. Whereas clinical specialists have higher pay in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $79,126.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Clinical managers tend to reach similar levels of education than clinical specialists. In fact, they're 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical specialist vs. Clinical coordinator
A clinical coordinator is responsible for monitoring a healthcare facility's daily operations, ensuring the best quality services for the patients. Clinical coordinators perform administrative and clerical tasks as needed, such as organizing patient files, communicating with other departments and healthcare organizations for validating patients' information and insurance documents, prepare medical reports, assist medical professionals in medical procedures, and observe sanitary and hygienic standards. A clinical coordinator must have excellent time-management skills to perform duties under minimal supervision.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, clinical specialists are more likely to have skills like "patient care," "clinical support," "technical support," and "work ethic." But a clinical coordinator is more likely to have skills like "cpr," "direct patient care," "surgery," and "patient flow."
Clinical coordinators make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $56,227. On the other hand, clinical specialists are paid the highest salary in the pharmaceutical industry, with average annual pay of $79,126.Most clinical coordinators achieve a similar degree level compared to clinical specialists. For example, they're 1.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical specialist vs. Clinical associate
A clinical associate is responsible for supporting the operations of a medical facility by performing administrative and clerical duties as needed to provide high-quality care services for the patients and assisting health care professionals in performing medical procedures. Clinical associates monitor the conditions of the patients, administer medication, collect laboratory samples, and conduct initial medical assessments such as checking temperature and vital signs. A clinical associate must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on addressing different patients' needs and reporting the patients' progress to the physicians.
Types of clinical specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
