How To Become A More Effective Nurse

Just as in any other profession, there are some nurses who love their jobs and want to be the best they can be, and there are others who are simply there to do what is necessary and get paid. Unlike in many other professions, the difference between these two types of people is stark, and patients, colleagues, and anyone else who might need to interact with and be around nurses will instantly be able to tell who thinks what – they’ll know, in other words, if they are dealing with a good nurse or a mediocre one.

This is the difference, of course. A good, effective nurse is one who enjoys what they do and wants to be better. This is the kind of nurse you should try to be; it’s the kind of nurse who will do the most for their patients and ensure they go further in their profession. On top of that, if you are a good nurse who works effectively and efficiently, you’ll get a lot more out of your day-to-day working life; you’ll like the work more, and you won’t wish you had chosen a different path.

If you are a nurse, you might be wondering how you can become a more effective one. This is a good start; asking the question means getting closer to the answer. Read on to find out more about how you can become a better nurse and get started on your journey today.

Knowledge

One of the best ways to ensure you can be a more effective nurse is to have the right amount of knowledge. Even better, you can be much more effective if you have more knowledge than you technically need in your position; in this way, your confidence levels will be high and you’ll always know exactly what to do.

It’s important to note that nurses have to know a lot of detailed medical information. They might not be personally performing surgeries, but they will still need to understand what is required and how to take care of a patient before, during, and after any procedure, for example. They’ll need to know about medication and symptoms for a vast range of different conditions. Plus, they’ll need to have communication and interpersonal skills.

Some of this knowledge will come from your initial Diploma of Nursing. Some will come from the experience you gain when you start nursing. However, that is not enough – you have to keep learning because the healthcare industry keeps evolving. There is always something more to discover. Plus, the more knowledge you have, the better your career progression can be.

Taking an online FNP program when you want to move forward as a nurse will help tremendously, for example. The fact that this and other useful qualifications can be gained online means you don’t even have to take time off work; you can keep learning practically as well as theoretically, giving you even more knowledge and advantages.

Compassion

If you want to become a more efficient nurse, you’ll need to take the very best care of your patients. This stands to reason, but some nurses can forget this, particularly if they are keen to move forward in their careers – they are focused on learning (while this is not a bad thing – in fact, it’s very positive – the patient must never be forgotten).

One trait that an effective nurse will need to have is compassion, and this is why it’s so important to continue working hard on being a great nurse with your patients as well as having plenty of knowledge. Compassion is not something that can easily be learned, although, over time, your skills in this area are likely to become better. This is why some people are always going to be better at nursing than others; they have these useful personal skills already.

Compassion means you feel concern for others and understand how they are feeling after something has caused them pain or negative feelings. So, those in hospitals do need nurses to be as compassionate as possible in order to give them the best care and understand what they are going through, even if they haven’t been through it themselves.

Being compassionate can help to make you a more efficient nurse, as well as one that patients are pleased to have helping them. When you are compassionate, this can actually speed up the healing process, as the patient is less stressed and more able to focus on getting better. 

Staying Calm Under Pressure 

The most efficient nurses are those who can stay calm under pressure. A nurse who panics and forgets what they are meant to do simply because there is an emergency is not going to be able to help their patients in the best way and could even make things worse. On the other hand, a nurse who can remain calm, keep thinking, and continue working despite (or even because of) any emergency situation is an effective nurse.

When you first start nursing, it may be that these problems do affect you and do make you less effective. However, if this is the case, then time and knowledge will help. The more experience you have as a nurse, the more emergencies and difficult situations you’ll come across, and this means you’ll become better at dealing with them. The more knowledge you gain, the more confidence you’ll have, and again, this means handling pressurized situations becomes less of a challenge. You’ll be able to stay calm under pressure and overcome any issue that comes your way.

Good Communication Skills 

To be a highly efficient nurse, you need to have excellent communication skills. Having plenty of knowledge and experience will count for a lot, but if you can’t impart that knowledge to anyone else and you can’t help your patient with your experience, then it’s not quite as useful as it could be.

When you are a nurse, communication is the bedrock of everything you do. You’ll need to put patients at ease, you’ll need to give out instructions (and receive them), and you’ll need to do handovers. You’ll have to talk to a lot of different people about a lot of different things. The better your communication skills, the more efficient a nurse you can be.