The Skills Needed to Become A Nurse of the Future

Without nurses, our healthcare system would be a dire situation. Registered nurses are the backbone to our healthcare, managing the day to day care of patients, making up an essential part of how our healthcare system effectively runs.

Along with caring for patients across a variety of needs, they are the professional ‘mediators’ between the patient, patient’s families, doctors, and surgeons.

Being a nurse is one of the most skilled yet rewarding jobs out there. With the increasing need to treat and care for growing illnesses, there is an increase in demand for people with these skills.

If you’re looking to change people’s lives and make a difference, a nursing career is extremely fulfilling. You could work across clinics, hospitals, nursing centers, and medical centers.

However, there are several qualities needed to become a successful nurse, as well as education and training requirements. Take a look at the list below to find out exactly what you need.

1. Organizational Skills

Being a registered nurse requires a lot of organization. You tend to look after numerous patients all at once, whether that includes individual wards at a hospital or a days’ worth of patients who attend a clinic.

A main bulk of the job is to be competent with admin, filing medical charts, completing full medical checks, and dispensing medications. An organized methodology applied to everyday working helps the nursing role become easier to manage and avoids critical errors.

2. Education and Qualifications

There is an extensive amount of training, education, and learning programs nurses must undertake. The mainstream routes include:

• Completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing
• Completing a Masters Degree in Nursing, or one of higher education
• Completing a Diploma Program in a hospital or training scheme

You can take the traditional route of studying at degree level, but there are other ‘on-the-job’ training programs which may take longer but give you first-hand learning where you will constantly be under assessment.

Of course, depending on if you wish to specialize in a particular nursing area, you can take additional courses. For disciplines such as anesthesia, you can gain CRNA recertification at expert course providers, Valley Anesthesia.

If it is mental health you wish to specialize in, you can look at studying in the evenings alongside your job, training for a qualification in Mental Health.

3. Trauma and Stress Management

A nurse will experience a range of different patients, each with a different situation. It can be difficult and emotional to be exposed to some of the circumstances, causing both mental and physical stress and trauma.

Alongside dealing with patients who may be suffering severely, nurses still must manage a heavy workload, as well as dealing with families, doctors, and constant pressure. A calm manner and the ability to stay collected in stressful situations is vital.

4. A compassionate personality

An excellent nurse will be compassionate and naturally empathetic to everyone they meet. A large part of the nursing role is to be supportive, comforting, and sympathetic, no matter who the patient is.

It’s the combination of being compassionate, yet dedicated and straight-thinking, which creates the perfect balance of personality traits for qualified nurses.

5. Excellent communicators

Nurses have to relay information to patients and their families every day. They also must have excellent communication skills with doctors and surgeons; therefore, good listening qualities are vital.

A nurse always has to be polite in manner, ideally with a likable personality. Patients put their health into the hands of nurses, so it’s essential to build up trust from the beginning.

6. Quick thinkers and decision makers

Every situation and scenario nurses are exposed to means a nurse must be able to judge, analyze, and review on the spot quickly. As well as this, all decisions must be as accurate as possible. Nurses are involved in fatal situations with patients daily, in which they must have the confidence to make the right steps.

Overall, a solid educational background, along with hands-on experience over several years, is vital for any budding nurse. The first-hand experiences you gain from physically learning in a hospital and patient orientated environment are crucial, but personality traits also go hand in hand.

If you would like to take on a career as a registered nurse, plan a path which incorporates the education and skills listed above, which will take you in the correct direction.