There are many qualities to becoming a good or even a great nurse. Nursing school focuses on developing strong clinical skills but there is much more to being a good nurse than just your clinical skills. You need to have all five of the following qualities in order to be a great nurse to both your patients and in your clinical practice.
Good Nurse Quality: Organization
Every good nurse that I have ever met has excellent organizational skills. These skills may or may not come naturally. You can learn good nursing organizational skills by following a few simple rules.
To be an excellent nurse you always need to have pen and paper handy. Taking a few notes on each patient will help you throughout your day. Having a pen and paper handy may seem like an obvious thing but I have seen nurses take notes on their gloves and then toss them out before they had a chance to record their findings.
Always have easy access to your patients’ schedules. This will help in timing your medication administration and assessments because you will be aware of which patients have appointments or tests that will take them off of the nursing floor.
As a good nurse you must learn to be flexible. Your day will most likely not go as you plan it. If you are organized you will be better able to adjust to the change in your routine.
Good Nurse Quality: Prioritize
Nurses not only have to prioritize their day with their patient care but they also have to make on the spot prioritizations that are dependent on what is going on clinically with each of their patients. Nurses have a tendency to be ‘task’ oriented. If you can break this habit then you will be able to intervene at the early sign of a problem or a patient complication.
Always follow the ABC’s (airway, breathing, and circulation) of nursing when checking on your patients. I once entered a patient’s room as I was relieving another nurse. The other nurse quickly rattled off the patient’s vital signs as she was leaving. When I entered the room, I noticed that patient was having difficulty breathing. A quick assessment showed that he was retaining a lot of fluid and experiencing an irregular heart rhythm. In less than an hour we had that patient moved to an ICU because of the complications.
Good Nurse Quality: Observation
To be a good nurse both clinically and emotionally to your patients you must be observant. In the situation above, if I would have just of taken the previous nurse’s assessment I may not have known that my patient was having both breathing and heart problems. A quick glance in at your patients may be all that is necessary.
Being an observant nurse goes hand in hand with being a compassionate nurse. You cannot be compassionate to your patient’s needs without first observing their needs. Patients go through many emotions and the nurse needs to pick up on these emotions. Use open ended question to start a dialogue and encourage your patients to talk.
Good Nurse Quality: Know what you don’t know.
This is easier than it sounds. If a situation comes up and you have no idea how to handle it then evaluate the problem step by step. This critical thinking step will help you discover aspects of nursing that you may never have thought of before.
For example, let’s just say that you have never started an I.V. before. You know that you don’t know how to do this. Go to your clinical books, observe other nurses starting an I.V., and write down the process. This is a simple, and unrealistic, example but you can apply the process to almost any nursing task.
Good Nurse Quality: Know where to find your resources.
Now that you know what you don’t know you need to find out where to get the information that you don’t know. More experienced nurses may be best resource. Do not be afraid to ask for help.
Your clinical books and your procedure guide are also excellent clinical resources. Always read up on a new procedure before attempting to do it on your own.
These five qualities will help both new and veteran nurses. You can use these in everyday practice until they become just another natural part of your nursing career.
