DescriptionThe clinical nurse is a professional Registered Nurse who assumes responsibility and accountability for a group of patients for a designated time frame and provides care to these patients using the nursing process in accordance with the standards of professional nursing practice. The clinical nurse performs in the professional role described by the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses Associates (SGNA).  The clinical nurse’s roles and responsibilities include but are not limited to providing care in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases of