What are some great skills of being a nurse?

Hi Tajauna,

Skills that set great nurses apart from others include (but are not limited to):

• Compassion - nurses are asked to treat patients in various states of health and circumstances. No matter what, nurses must treat all patients with the utmost care and respect, without judgement.
• Time management - depending on the environment a nurse is working in, they will often need to care for many patients in a short period of time. Nurses need to be able to balance giving their patient as much attention as possible, while making sure that all patients are attended to.
• Decision making - nurses will often be asked to make critical decision quickly, much like doctors. They need to be able to make good decisions, or rather, decisions that serve the patient's best interest, are legal and are ethical.
• Physical endurance - nursing shifts can be long, especially if they have to respond to a widespread catastrophic event. Nurses must be able to be on their feet for long periods of time, as well as lift people, beds, etc., walk the length of an entire hospital or even run. Being physically fit helps tremendously.
• Ability to work with others, in high pressure situations - nurses will have to work with doctors, other nurses and other hospital workers. Because the stakes are high, nurses need to be able to work with people with different ways of working/communicating, so that the patient's needs are always being met.
• Math and science skills - nurses must be able to accurately measure proper medicine dosages, take body/weight measurements and other vital signs. They must also know which medications can treat which conditions, while keeping in mind that a patient's current condition or allergies, may make one medication less suitable than the other.

While there's tons of other skills., I believe that these are the most crucial. I hope this helps!

Always be patient.