The 8 Most Important Traits of A Caring Nurse
Nurses are crucial to today’s fast-paced and busy healthcare system. Whatever a patient needs, it is a nurse who will provide it. That could be medication, treatment, support, or even a shoulder to cry on. The nurse is the one who does everything and can help everyone, which is why it’s not a role that everyone is able to take on. It actually takes a specific kind of person to become a nurse, and they need to have a variety of different personality traits.
If you are interested in becoming a nurse, it makes sense to understand these traits and ensure you have them (or you can work on getting them). Only in this way will you become a great and caring nurse. We have put together a list of some of these traits below. Read on to find out what they are so you can get the right idea about what and who a nurse is.
Hardworking
There is no way that a good, caring nurse can sit back and let others do their work for them. Nursing is an extremely tough job, and it’s one that requires a lot of hard work. Anyone who wants to be a nurse has to be willing to put in the long hours of often physical labor to do their job in the best way that will help people the most.
However, although it is hard work and it requires hard work, nurses are often passionate about their careers, and they want to do whatever they can to help as many people as possible. So, although it’s tough and challenging, they will work through it. They will keep going because they know that what they are doing is making a difference.
This is one of the best things about nursing. Nurses can honestly say they are making a difference in people’s lives, and perhaps even saving those lives. That’s what makes nursing such a rewarding career, and it’s why many people feel that the hard work is ultimately worth it.
Knowledgeable
To be a truly caring nurse who understands what it takes to care for their patients, nurses have to be extremely knowledgeable. They have to know a great deal about medications, treatments, healthcare, patient care, mental health, emotional support, and a lot more besides. They must have this knowledge because they need to think on their feet at times – sometimes in life or death situations – to help people in the right way.
Nurses will begin gaining this knowledge with their initial nursing degree, enabling them to work as an RN (registered nurses). However, this is just the start of their educational journey, and they will need to be willing to continue learning for many years to come. In fact, a truly caring nurse who is passionate about being the best will continue to learn throughout their career.
The healthcare profession is constantly evolving. There are always new techniques being developed and new medications to be used. This is why a nurse must always keep learning. They need to know about these new things so they can help their patients in the right way and ensure they are getting the right treatment.
There are many ways that nurses can gain this new information. Some will read industry journals, and some will attend conferences. However, getting a formal qualification is the best way to do it. This will mean you can prove you have the knowledge needed, and it will help you if you decide to take your career further. On top of this, a nurse who is able to work towards a PhD in nursing will feel a huge sense of achievement which will keep them motivated to move forward and do their best at all times.
Curiosity
The above idea of a nurse always needing to gain more knowledge ties in with this idea of a nurse needing to be curious if they are going to truly help their patients and be as caring as possible. A curious nurse will want to keep learning, which, as we know, is important. They will then know all the new protocols and rules, as well as all the new techniques. They won’t get left behind if they want to progress in their careers.
However, being curious is about more than just gaining knowledge, no matter how important that might be. Being curious is about gaining an insight into the patients they are caring for and getting to know them better. It’s about digging deeper to find the solution, no matter how long it might take or how difficult the task might be. It’s about looking for as many on-the-job learning opportunities as possible in order to gain more knowledge and to be able to do more for the patients in their care.
If you are a naturally curious person, you might do well as a nurse (assuming you have a number of the other traits needed to be a caring healthcare worker). You’ll certainly be able to understand your patients more and give them the best treatment; in the end, that’s the basis of all nursing careers.
Good Communication
In a lot of ways, it won’t matter how much you know or how well you can investigate problems if you’re not a good communicator. Communication is one of the most crucial elements of being a caring nurse, and it’s something that, if you are able to do it well, will benefit everyone around you, including your patients and colleagues. Plus, it will benefit you as well.
Nurses have to be able to communicate clearly and concisely with many different people. To begin with, nursing is very much about teamwork, so you’ll need to communicate with your nursing colleagues to work well in a close team that will have to rely on one another a lot of the time. You’ll also be working with doctors and specialist, and you’ll need to communicate with them as well to ensure they understand any findings you have discovered that might pertain to a patient’s care and treatment (and their overall health) as well as understand any instructions about their treatment that you might be given. On top of that, it’s vital that a caring nurse is able to communicate with their patients.
Patients will be scared and vulnerable if they are in hospital. Even if they are there for something minor, they would still rather be at home. So, a caring nurse who can communicate is someone they will definitely appreciate. They will want that person to be there with them to soothe and calm them and to let them know what is happening. A nurse who can offer precise information in a way that a patient can understand is important.
Optimism
As we’ve said, hospitals and other healthcare facilities are not always the most positive of places. The people who are sick and injured don’t want to be there, and they are in pain or at least uncomfortable a lot of the time. So, there could well be a sense of negativity in the air. This can mean that healing takes longer – studies are ongoing regarding the psychological effect of a positive attitude on the body’s ability to heal, but there is certainly some connection.
Therefore, if you want to be a caring nurse who does their best job, it’s crucial that you are as optimistic as possible. You’ll need to see the bright side of any situation – where you can, as this might not always be possible in serious circumstances – and ensure you are able to encourage other people to see it too. When you can do this, you are helping people with their mental health and making their time in hospital that little bit better.
Imagine if you were unwell and in a hospital bed, and your nurse was miserable and only saw the negative in any situation. It would make you feel terrible, and it would do some damage to your mental health. An optimistic nurse, on the other hand, will make you feel better.
An optimistic nurse isn’t just there to benefit the patient either. They can help their colleagues when they are having a bad day, or the work feels as though it’s getting overwhelming. Plus, working with nurses who understand the importance of positivity means that if you are the nurse having a bad day (and it will happen from time to time), you will have someone there to help you feel better. Everyone works together in nursing, and having a positive attitude is just one way this is done.
Compassionate
To be a positive person and to be able to communicate well, you need to understand how to be compassionate. Compassion means that you are concerned for others, and you want to alleviate their suffering where you can. This is clearly a trait that many if not all, nurses will have, and it might be why people choose to become nurses. They want to help people because they hate to see them upset or hurt.
Being compassionate is something that many people feel, and it is a good trait to have, especially if you want to be a nurse. However, you do need to be wary; although it may not seem possible to have too much compassion, that’s exactly what can happen – a nurse can become so concerned with helping people that they forget to help themselves. This will lead to something known as burnout, which is common among nurses. Burnout occurs when a nurse (or anyone) works too hard for too long without taking any care of their own needs. Therefore, if you are a compassionate person, and especially if you choose to become a nurse, you must ensure you take the time for some self-care as well as caring for others. This will make you a better nurse overall, and it will improve your mental health, which can only ever be a good thing.
Empathetic
Something that goes hand in hand with compassion is empathy, and this is another trait of a caring nurse. Nurses need to understand what their patients are going through and how they feel to help them most appropriately.
Nurses can show how empathetic they are in many different ways. They might sit and talk to a patient and give them advice. Or perhaps they will simply listen without saying anything at all – this can be highly therapeutic.
How you express your empathy as a nurse will depend very much on the patient and the circumstances in question. You might need to give a lot of information about their treatment, or perhaps you just need to be there as a friendly face. When you have more experience, you’ll know what your patients needs.
Even-Tempered
When you are a nurse, you will see some upsetting things. People will die despite your best efforts to save them, and you might have to help their families understand what has happened while you are personally going through the trauma of what occurred. Even if they don’t die, your patients might be very sick, and that can be upsetting, too, especially if they have a condition or injury that is life-changing, and they don’t know what to do next or where to turn for help.
Nursing is full of these situations, but it is good to know that it is just as full of positive, life-affirming situations too.
However, nurses must be even-tempered because of these different highs and lows. They must not show anger or that they are upset, although being happy for a patient is a good thing, of course. The point is, a good, caring nurse needs to be able to keep their emotions in check so they can do their work well and remain professional – if they let those emotions get the better of them, they will find that they are unable to help patients in the way they should, and burnout is much more possible.