Becoming a registered nurse has been one of your most significant achievements. You've got your license from the respective state. However, now is the time to enter the nursing profession and work in various healthcare facilities.
After all, you can always go online and search for job opportunities on hundred of job websites and newspapers. But, that doesn't guarantee you a nursing job in any way or form. Sure, you can apply to every healthcare facility you want, but employers look for particular skills and qualities when hiring nurses for their nursing department.
While getting your first job as a nurse might be a challenging feat to achieve, you can increase your chances of employment by working on a few basic skills that every nurse must have. While being a registered nurse opens up a wide array of career opportunities for you, once you hone your nursing skills and put some of them on your resume, the possibilities will be endless.
With that in mind, let us look at a few skills you can master to become a 'must hire' nurse.
Improve your nursing knowledge
The nursing profession as a whole requires that candidates stay updated with the latest treatment techniques, medical practices, and procedures day in and day out. However, as nurses are frontline warriors and the first healthcare professionals that patients are likely to come across in a healthcare facility, they have to stay on top of their game to perform their duties effectively.
Therefore, constantly learning is a vital aspect of being a must-hire nurse in today's competitive healthcare setting.
That said, there are tons of online resources and educational programs available to aspiring nurses these days.
A popular certification aspiring nurses look for is a post master's FNP certificate online because it allows them to continue post-graduate education while obtaining additional skills and knowledge to gain a competitive edge over others.
Work on your communications skills
A nurse's everyday duty is to interact with anxious, suffering, and terminal patients to provide support and comfort. They must also educate patients and their loved ones about procedures, treatments, diagnosis, and medication.
In addition, they provide help and care to those with language barriers, visual and auditory impairments, and for whom communication might be challenging. They also advocate for individuals when healthcare staff might have conflicting priorities for care and treatment ideas.
Furthermore, nurses also write research reports, proposals, and care instructions while interacting with administrators and coworkers to solve operational and organizational problems.
So, no matter what nursing role you decide to take, you must develop your written and verbal communication skills to do your job correctly. Not to mention, doing so will strengthen your chances of being employed by a reputable healthcare facility tenfold!
Be empathetic/compassionate
The term compassion is derived from the Latin word meaning 'to suffer with.' That said, it is a well-known fact that being empathetic to patients suffering from spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical issues is an ever-present component of being an excellent nurse.
Moreover, many people consider empathy and compassion a core competence of the nursing profession while being an anchor that keeps you grounded and striving for success in this noble career choice.
According to various senior healthcare leaders and CEOs, nurses that show compassion and empathy in their caregiving duties benefit from happier, more satisfied patients.
Furthermore, doing so also leads to a greater sense of teamwork, less job stress, and increased job satisfaction. In the end, empathy and compassion towards patients are two nursing traits that most employers look for in nursing candidates.
Become more resilient
By nature, the nursing profession is very physically, mentally, and emotionally stressful on its own. Plus, the daily demands end up being too much for most nurses, leading to high turnover rates due to work-related burnout.
However, being more resilient will allow nursing candidates to cope successfully with work stressors and 'bounce back' in even the most adverse circumstances.
In fact, according to numerous studies, nurses with high levels of resilience will be less prone to develop stress disorders and more prone to stay in the nursing profession.
In the end, nurses with excellent resilient and stress coping skills are highly valued in the nursing profession and by healthcare facility owners. A few characteristics of resilient nurses includes;
- A good sense of humor
- Confidence
- Excellent levels of optimism
- The ability to express feelings honestly
- The ability to stay detached from reactions and victim mentality
- The ability to manage emotions properly
- Positively adapting to circumstances and thriving during change
Be an advocate for patient safety
Safety culture is a workplace environment that directly results from the interaction of processes and structures and the workforce's behaviors, perceptions, and attitudes related to patient safety. That said, healthcare facilities that don't follow a safe work culture will likely make more errors and mistakes when delivering patient care.
In fact, many researchers have discovered that a culture of safety in the workplace predicted many medication and treatment errors.
However, avoiding harm due to medication and treatment mistakes requires an effective system while ensuring that the healthcare team remains patient-centered. Furthermore, a healthcare professional who provides direct care to patients must always be vigilant and wary of patient safety.
Hence, nurses have to stay attentive and spot any errors and mistakes related to patient care, as advocacy is all about ensuring patient safety and putting their needs in front of your own!
So, nurses who can advocate for their patients day in and day out are valued across the entire healthcare sector!
Conclusion
Other than the traits mentioned in the article, employers also look at the nursing candidate's career goals and values. As a member of one of the most significant healthcare subfields, nurses play a critical role in helping healthcare facilities fulfill an increasing list of patient healthcare demands and organizational pressures.
So, ensure that you have the nursing traits mentioned above, and you will be well on your way to a career opportunity that is both challenging and fruitful!
