Medical doctors get a lot of credit for helping a patient out of a medical issue or even a life-threatening situation but most people don’t realize that there is a team of other professionals working alongside the doctor to make that possible. One of the most important roles in any medical organization is that of the nursing staff.
Especially for those that are attending to patients in critical care or patients with a very specific kind of health concern, the work that the nursing staff puts into the well-being of the patient is at par with the input of the doctor. Nursing is a very demanding but also a very rewarding profession. If you are considering this as your future career path then be sure to work on these core skills.
Communication
Nurses are constantly juggling communication between hospital management, medical professionals, other nurses, patients, people coming to see patients, and all kinds of other stakeholders. For all of these people, the nursing team is the backbone of the system that allows for communication and exchange of knowledge and no one else can fill this void.
This doesn’t mean a nurse has to know multiple languages, but it does mean that they need to be great at listening and speaking. This is necessary for effectively getting information across to patients without compromising professional and bedside manners. When you are in a high-stress environment and dealing with multiple people at the same time, many of which are in a heightened emotional state, this is easier said than done.
Confidence
It’s a high-pressure job being a nurse, just as high pressure as being a doctor if not more. After all, a nurse is responsible for the care of the patient as well as the doctor and ensuring that everything is in place for both people to get what they need and to be able to do what they need to do. Having solid confidence in your skills and in yourself is crucial for peak performance in high-pressure situations. Nurses need to know what they know like the back of their hands and they need to be able to believe in their capabilities because that is what will help them in stressful circumstances.
Professional Knowledge
Nurses need a lot of knowledge to be able to treat patients appropriately and assist doctors. This is why they go through extensive training, multiple assessments, and frequent tests to make sure they are up to date with everything in their field. Just like doctors, their education and training don’t end with school. They have to put in a lot of work to get their licenses renewed every few years and in some cases, they may choose to become a Family Nurse practitioners. Luckily, expanding your certifications is easy when you have FNP programs online that can be completed according to your work schedule. In any case, renewing your licenses is required as they prove you are still competent at the job. Moreover, if you want to develop your career as a nurse then you will also be looking to specialize in a certain field and that means more studying, more exams, and more professional assessments. For a lot of qualifications, you need to have hundreds of clinical practice hours. So there is plenty of work to be done, making this a very demanding profession. Therefore, studying online can be the best option while getting in the necessary hours at the hospital.
Teamwork
A hospital, clinic, or any other kind of medical assistance organization is only as good as the team that operates it, and in that chain, the nurses play a pivotal role. More importantly, the quality of teamwork among the nurses and between the nurses and other professionals in the business is crucial. When there are hundreds of patients to deal with, each requiring dozens of tasks and multiple other chores to take care of as well, it requires not only a team but a highly synchronized team to do it all.
Without having the traits of a good team player, not only will you limit yourself as a professional but you will also be compromising the efficiency of the team and, eventually, the safety of the people you are treating.
Critical Thinking
Doctors are making decisions in the operating theater or when they are consulting with patients directly but nurses have to make a lot of decisions that have to do with everything from patient health to hospital management and personal safety. Nurses are constantly putting themselves in situations where their own safety is compromised and the pandemic was a prime example of this.
The nursing staff is essentially doing the brunt of the decision-making on behalf of a lot of other professionals in the hospital or even in a clinic. Medicine is itself a field in which the most minute things can make the biggest difference so nurses need to always keep their eyes peeled and have a strong head on their shoulders to keep things running smoothly. A small miscalculation on the nurses’ part could render the work of a doctor or anyone else in the process useless.