It takes a special kind of person to be a nurse.
Nurses play a crucial role in promoting health in individuals and within society.
In addition to providing care, they offer patient and client education, vaccinations, and medication administration.
Nurses also advocate for patients to make sure they receive appropriate care.
So, what is it about nurses that makes them so unique?
Here are 16 key traits of what it takes to be a nurse.
1. Their Empathy Meters Are Full
Nurses observe, understand, and share another’s situation without judging them. A nurse’s empathy is rooted in their innate ability to put themselves in their patients’ shoes (or slippers), and to act as a result to enhance their care.
2. They Really Care About People
A nurse maintains the quality of care for patients, residents and clients and protects their rights. If a client’s care is at risk, they intervene and work to resolve the situation using the correct channels.
3. Flexibility Is A Key Strength
Resilience requires flexibility. Nurses learn quickly how to adapt to adversity and any crisis in life, so they’re better equipped to deal with it. Because nurses are resilient, difficult life events often generate new opportunities for them. They work extraordinary hours and bounce back well in times of stress or trouble.
4. They’re Really Persuasive
Making people do what is right for themselves isn’t easy. A nurse knows what to say and how to say it in order to encourage and support people to make wise health choices. With education tailored to the individual’s needs, nurses can influence patients to eat healthier, exercise more, or give up smoking. As a patient’s health and safety are concerned, they ensure consent is obtained in the right way.
5. Excellent Written And Verbal Communication Skills
Nurses know the ins and outs of medications and know when to speak up at the right moment to alleviate potential mistakes or hazards. Written notes are done with great care to ensure proper doses are administered to patients and communication is the key to ensuring proper handovers are completed and information pertaining to patients is accurate. They have to use good body language and eye contact too, now mask wearing is mandatory.
6. Yep, Nurses Are Great Problem-Solvers
Nurses and caregivers develop engineering brains over time, because no matter how many times they read the handbook, new situations arise all the time. Sometimes, they have to make do, or go with their instincts, or solve a problem when it’s an urgent matter. Nurses can switch into problem-solving mode seamlessly.
7. They Have Awesome Attention To Detail
They don’t miss much. Doctors benefit greatly from a professional pair of eyes and hands and, if these are laser-focused, the patient’s and client’s health is the real winner. Nurses have great spatial awareness and their listening ears are always on.
8. Nurses Enjoy Learning
To be a nurse – a good nurse – they keep up with their studies, staying ahead of the latest technologies, industry best practice and medications, knowing the correct dosages. Tests and continuing professional development are part of the job and nurses need to be prepared. Having a positive attitude to learning makes it easier.
9. They Possess Excellent Stamina
The hours nurses work can be long and tiresome, with many nurses working often as the general population is asleep or engaging in leisure time with their family or loved ones. Giving so much of themselves, through dedication and high levels of care, We don’t know how they do it.
10. Most Have A Stellar Sense Of Humour
You’d find it difficult to find a humourless nurse or caregiver. It’s because, in many cases, if you don’t laugh, you cry. Most have developed dry senses of humour over time, because little surprises them. Jo Brand was a psychiatric nurse for 10 years before she became a comedian. This tells you something.
11. They Show Incredible Courage
Most situations a nurse encounters require a strong stomach and the ability to put the care of their patients and clients ahead of their own emotions. They have to be strong for those in their care and this can be incredibly draining.
12. Intuition Is Their Superpower
You can’t trick a nurse or a caregiver. They know all the little things patients do to gain an advantage that often is bad for their health. Nurses have a heightened sense of people and can figure things out very quickly.
13. Nothing Shocks Or Embarrasses Them
Yes, nurses truly have seen it all. They are trained to deal with all delicate situations and they handle them in the most professional manner. Nothing is sensitive, but they treat patients and clients with the utmost respect.
14. They’re Never Off-Duty
Nurses usually can’t escape a dinner party without being hit up for advice or a diagnosis. It’s hard for nurses and care workers to ever switch off and take advantage of any downtime.
15. They Have Thick Skins
Caregivers get called every name under the sun, usually by patients or clients who are scared or ill-informed. Nurses are beautiful inside and out, but they do have an invisible layer of thick skin that helps them cope with an inordinate amount of mistreatment that gets hurled their way.
16. Oh, And They’ve Got Stories …
Nurses tell good tales – only the names have changed. They’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Not one healthcare worker escapes without stories that would shock or engage any listener. It’s a human industry, so with it comes life-changing events and stories.
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