The Skills You Need to be a Good Nurse

Starting out on a new career path can leave you filled with questions. Will you enjoy the work? Are you the right fit? Do you have what it takes to succeed? Thankfully, the nursing career path offers a wide range of options for those who are looking to pursue an exciting and rewarding career in healthcare. With the demand for registered nurses growing at a rapid rate, choosing this career path also means that you’ll never be worried about being out of work. If you’re considering nursing as your career choice, here are the main skills that you will need to succeed.

#1. Effective Communication Skills

Being a nurse is all about communicating well with your patients and their families. As a nurse, you will be stationed on the front line of healthcare and will often find yourself acting as a ‘middleman’ to relay information from doctors to patients. You’ll need to have excellent communication skills in order to encourage open dialogue between yourself, patients and their families so that they are able to fully understand their diagnosis, treatment, and any other medical concerns. You’ll also need to effectively communicate with other health professionals and nurses to ensure that your patients are impeccably and responsibly cared for.

#2. Critical Thinking

To excel in a nursing career, it’s important to have a sharp, critical mind. This isn’t just important when you are studying for your online nursing degree, but also for every single day that you spend looking after patients on the ward. Nurses need to be able to clearly and quickly assess situations and are often required to make critical decisions on the spot. As a nurse, you may often find yourself facing a decision to make between multiple options for a patient’s treatment, therefore, good critical thinking skills are essential for analyzing the situation and making sure to make the best choice.

#3. Flexibility

Whilst studying for your master of science in nursing, you will quickly come to realize that no two days as a nurse are the same. As a nurse, you’ll need to be equipped to deal with many last-minute changes, along with juggling a heavy workload and tons of paperwork. Being adaptable and flexible will ensure that you keep up with your fast-paced, forever-changing schedule. You’ll also need a strong ability to mentally adapt since there will be times where you need to deal with other health professionals having a bad day or patients who won’t comply with treatment. Being flexible enough to come up with solutions that work for everybody is one of the main qualities of a good nurse.

#4. Desire to Learn More

As a nurse, your education doesn’t end once you graduate from nursing school. The best and most effective nurses love to learn as much as they can about their profession, no matter how long they have been working on a ward. Continuing to question, learn, and develop throughout your career will not only improve the standard of patient care that you give but also put you at a better chance of promotion and career progression.

Have you met a nurse with amazing qualities? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.