POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES EVERY NURSE SHOULD POSSESS

A summary from successful Chief Nursing Officers across the United States

 

Nursing is a challenging and rewarding field that expects much of those who pursue it. Long hours, multi-tasking and working with our infirmed place demands on our healthcare providers that few other occupations experience.

 

This list is anecdotal and collected through conversation and interaction with Human Resource directors and CNO’s in healthcare systems from all corners of the nation. If you are currently in the nursing field or are considering pursuing this career, consider this list of attributes that you probably already possess but may want to revisit and strengthen as you continue your nursing career:

 

A Caring Nature

“Caring” is the unanimous quality mentioned when discussing nursing. Nurses deal with the sick and injured and their families on a daily basis, and they need to be able to show them that they truly care about their situation. All-stars maintain a positive and caring energy regardless of any situation they are put in. 

 

Be Emotionally Strong

Although nursing can be a very rewarding career, it is also a career in which life’s harshest realities must be faced on a daily basis. Death, illness, and tragedy are all part of the job description, so the best nurses are the ones who are capable of emotionally distancing themselves from the happenings of their job. This doesn’t mean that nurses must be stoic, unfeeling, and unaffected, but it does mean that they should know how to maintain a semblance of levelheadedness and composure in the face of emotionally trying situations. But, if you are able to laugh it all off and smile while your sanity crumbles around you, then you will be the best of the best.

 

Be Great at Multi-tasking

No day is quite like the next when you work as a nurse, so you need to be able to adapt to circumstances. People are unpredictable at the best of times, but under stress become even more unpredictable, so a nurse’s typical workday will require flexibility and adaptability. You will rarely get to do one thing at a time as a nurse. It is not unusual to be working on a dressing, while a resident is bombarding you with questions about a second patient, all while a unit clerk is telling you that a third patient just had a bowel movement and is screaming for help. If you have the ability to do several things at once with quality, then nursing may be right for you.

 

Be thick-skinned

Frankly, nurses and doctors can be mean. They shouldn’t be, considering they are all well-trained professionals who should be able to communicate without resorting to cattiness and backstabbing. But, unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. You will be bombarded with people telling you what you did wrong, and rarely get to hear about the things you do right. You will frequently encounter nurses that disagree with your nursing style and will reject it with noisy diatribes against you. A good nurse needs to be able to let that kind of personality bounce off them.

 

Be Empathetic

Nurses regularly deal with people who are scared and in pain. They must be able to put themselves in their patients’ shoes if they are going to give them the quality of care that a good nurse provides.

 

Have Physical Endurance

Nursing is a never ending job. Someone is always ill and in need of some sort of aid or attention. It’s also unusual for a hospital or medical centre to be overstaffed, which of course means more workload on each nurse in the unit. Being a hard worker is therefore a very important trait. Breaks for nurses are few and far between. They are on their feet all day, sometimes for 12 or more hours at a time, so nurses must have good physical endurance to succeed in nursing.

 

Be a Quick Thinker

When a nurse notices something is not right with a patient, they need to be able to make decisions quickly and put their plans into action instantly. Nursing is not the career for someone who needs time to think about a situation before responding, because even a fraction of a second can mean the difference between life and death.

 

Have Great Communication Skills

Although communication skills are essential in any career, they are especially important for nurses. Nurses must not only be able to articulate difficult circumstances to their patients and patients’ families, but they must also be able to listen very carefully. Additionally, good nurses are able to follow directions easily and- above all- accurately. Nurses communicate with each other, doctors, patients, and patients’ families on a daily basis, so being able to communicate clearly and effectively, and to read people is necessary for people in this career.

 

Conclusion

Nursing is a difficult career. There is no doubt about it. However, it can also be an extremely rewarding career given the right personality. Of course, like any occupation, the nursing industry is comprised of a wide range of types of people, character traits, and personality types, so there is no formula for the perfect nurse. There are, however, certain personality traits and habits that have proven helpful to individuals looking to pursue a career in the nursing sector. Certainly, the more of the above traits you have as an individual, the more likely nursing is the career for you.  •