What makes a good nurse? There are a number of skills that a nurse should have in order to do his or her job well. They are all important. The five listed below, however, are absolutely essential for anyone interested in nursing. These are the skills that all nurses should have.

Communication skills

Nurses need to communicate with many different people. They need to talk with patients, physicians and other healthcare providers. They need to provide information to patients and other healthcare professionals, as well as gather information from them, all of which require good listening skills.

The patients with whom nurses interact are often from different backgrounds and different ages, so a nurse needs to be able to navigate those differences in order to deliver the best care possible.

Calm and self-possessed

Nursing is often a stressful occupation. Nurses may have to deal with patients who are not doing well, people who are suffering and in pain. But even in stressful situations, they need to maintain a level head and do what is best for the patient. In order to accomplish this, nurses need to develop a degree of detachment, so they are not overcome with emotion and are able to do their job effectively.

Empathy

However, a good nurse is also able to understand what his or her patients are going through, looking out for their patients’ best interests.

Flexibility

Nurses often have to work different hours and days. Their schedules vary. They may have to put in a lot of overtime or work nights and weekends. And they may have to work in different locations with different responsibilities, so they need to be flexible.

Detail oriented

A nurse has tremendous responsibility. A patient’s life and health are often in his or her hands. An error in the care and medication a nurse gives could have great consequences for a patient’s life. That is why nurses need to pay close attention to detail.

A nurse needs to make sure he or she is following proper procedures, in what is done, the way it is done, and when it is done. To do this, the nurse needs to be aware of all of the little things that are involved in delivering adequate care.

For more than 20 years, Team1Medical Staffing has provided the personalized and reliable service that earned us the reputation as one of the most trusted medical staffing agencies in the Greater Houston area. We have become a top-notch firm because of our attention to detail and the flexibility we offer our clients, enabling them to better control their staffing needs.

Call us at 713-590-2980 or contact us online to find out why we are different from all the others.