Of 186 questionnaires sent to burn facilities in the United States to determine the activities of the burn clinical nurse specialist (CNS) and nurse clinician (NC) as clinical practitioner, researcher, educator, and consultant, 50 were returned. Of the respondents, 11 were burn CNSs, 22 were burn NCs, and 17 were educators or managers. Although the study was specifically designed for the burn CNS/NC, nurses with other position titles who believed they functioned in any of the categories of the CNS/NC role participated. The educator role was perceived by CNSs as most important and most helpful in improving nursing practice and quality of patient care; NCs perceived the clinical practitioner role as the most important/helpful. There were close similarities between CNS and NC acvitivites in each of the four functional role categories.