7 Essential Skills That Make a Good Nurse
Are you considering nursing as a profession? If so, there are things to keep in mind. Not everyone has what it takes to be a nurse.
There are nursing skills you must possess to be a successful nurse. Nursing students learn the "hard" skills, such as starting IVs, changing linens, administering medication, and other related tasks.
Those skills are what nursing instructors expect you to know before you graduate. Anyone can learn how to do those things, but it takes special people to relate to clients on an emotional level. Thus, we are here today to present the seven essential "soft" skills you need to excel as a nurse.
7 Essential Nursing Skills and Qualities to Have
Nursing is not all about physical work. Many characteristics of a nurse involve personal skills. You may know them as soft skills, but they are still critical. These qualities are necessary for all nurses, whether you work in a hospital, clinic, or the home-health field. Let's dive in and explore each of them.
1. Communication
One of the top nursing skills is being a great communicator. As a nurse, you interact with patients, patient's families, and teams of doctors and nurses on a day-to-day basis. You need to have excellent communication skills to juggle all three.
According to a study, Peplau's theory of interpersonal relations can help nurses communicate with their patients. The theory breaks communication into three phases to create a relationship and build trust among nurses and patients.
Introductory or Orientation Phase
Communication starts at the patient's door. As a nurse, presenting yourself is vital; your body language speaks volumes. According to the theory, you should address your patients when you walk into the room, calling them by their name and assuring them they are your focus.
Successful nurses know that first impressions count in developing trust with their patients.
Working or Teaching Phase
The second phase makes sure you build a good flow of communication with your patient. To do so, you need to listen to their needs actively. When discussing diagnoses, lab results, or treatments, make sure you use plain English so they can understand what you say.
Resolution Phase
By the end of the visit, you can measure the success of your communication by checking how satisfied the patient was with how you addressed the issues and provided care.
Suppose you worked on building good relationships during the first two phases. In that case, you and the patient will develop mutual trust and respect for each other, ensuring effective communication.
Communicating with Your Co-workers
As a nurse, building a good rapport with your co-workers is crucial to your success. Keeping the lines of communication open and informing each other of patient issues encourages teamwork which is another essential skill for a successful nursing career.
2. Time management and organization
In the healthcare industry, everything is time-sensitive, from administering medication to emergency intervention. Considering that today nurses deal with an overwhelming number of patients, nurses need to stay on top of everything. So, if you lack the skills to manage your time and plan everything accordingly, it can have a catastrophic impact on the patient as well as your career.
To make every minute count, successful nurses know they need to plan, organize, prioritize, and delegate tasks ahead of time. Managing and organizing your time and responsibilities is not easy to accomplish, but it prevents a busy today from turning into an overwhelming and stressful day.
3. Mental and physical stamina
Nursing is known for its long shifts and overload of patients. It also involves long hours looking over the computer and laser-sharped focus when administering medications. All these factors can cause mental and physical stress, which will cause a drop in their mental alertness.
Thus, as a nurse, you should be aware of the stress that comes with the work and be prepared to give your body and mind the energy it needs to avoid judgment errors.
As such, you must practice self-care to boost your stamina. There are various techniques used to promote your mental stamina. At the same time, a healthy lifestyle and exercising can help boost your physical energy.
4. Empathy
Being in the hospital is a scary time for the patient, and nurses are there to make them feel comfortable and sure about their health. Empathy is another crucial characteristic of a nurse. When you empathize with someone, you understand what the patient is going through.
As a nurse, you are in a unique position to help patients. You understand what the patient is going through and have insight into what procedures the patient will experience. You can use this knowledge to explain the next steps and put the patient at ease.
When you develop an empathetic relationship with a patient, you improve that person's medical experience. For people going through major health issues, an understanding nurse can make them feel more optimistic about their procedure and the healing process.
5. Team collaboration
As a nurse, you will never work alone; it always involves collaboration with other nurses, teams of doctors, and other healthcare professionals. Usually, these teams work together to find successful outcomes for their patients. In this sense, you need to be a team player that communicates effectively, stays adaptable, and finds new ways to get along with other team members. Without collaboration, you won't go too far with your nursing career.
World Health Organization (WHO) gives some practical tips for better team collaboration among nurses, which include:
Introduce yourself to the team and clarify your role;
Make sure you close the communication loop;
Avoid assumptions by stating the obvious;
Always ask questions, check and clarify any misunderstandings;
Make sure you use objective language when speaking with the team;
Clearly specify to who you are delegating tasks.
6. Critical thinking
Gathering knowledge and information on caring for patients is one thing; applying the knowledge to a successful practice is another thing. To be a good nurse, you need to be a critical thinker and put the clinical guidelines on the floor–especially during stressful situations.
Thus, to lead a successful nursing career, you need to comprehend your knowledge and think quickly about how to turn that into practice. As a critical thinker, you will be able to prevent nursing errors by recognizing them as promptly as possible. It is a nursing skill that will enable you to ladder up to your career.
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7. Discretion
Discretion in nursing involves keeping patients' information confidential. When you become a nurse, you have an obligation not to share any patient information in or outside your workplace with anyone who does not have authorization.
According to The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), patients have a right to privacy and the nondisclosure of their information unless they give consent. Healthcare workers, physicians, insurance companies, and other entities directly involved in the patient's care can view patient information.
Nurses know that their patients trust them completely, and they can't break that trust. Therefore, they never talk about patients' personal information or medical records, whether chatting with co-workers or telling loved ones about their work shift.
Final Thoughts
Certain qualities of a nurse are necessary to provide excellent patient care in any setting. Learning the skills of a nurse is crucial, but so are the psychological aspects of the profession.
If you connect with a patient emotionally, the walls between you will break, creating a more comfortable and calming atmosphere for the patient, leading to a faster recovery. Similarly, you need to build similar bonds with your co-workers to create a collaborative, healthy workplace. The hospital will run smoothly when the staff and patients feel confident and cared for.