Personality Traits
that every good nurse should have
You may be wondering if you would be a good nurse. What personality traits should a potential RN possess? I have been in this career for a while now, and I believe you should have 3 main qualities: - Compassion
- Patience
- Confidence(in the knowledge you possess)
Without compassion, how will you be able to empathize with your patients? You don’t have to understand exactly how a person is feeling or coping with something to be willing to understand why they are having a hard time and that they need someone to care. If you are unable to be caring and be “there for someone”, you should not be a nurse. This one is just common sense. In particular, hospice nurses and ICU nurses should possess this quality as they will be dealing with death often.
Patience is one that you can work on if it does not come naturally to you. Not only will you need patience with your patients, but also with co-workers, physicians and family members. When you have been at work 11 hours and the eighth family member from the same patient comes and ask you the same question AGAIN, patience will ABSOLUTELY be a virtue. For obvious reasons a pediatric nurse will need a lot of patience! While having the other personality traits are important to becoming a nurse, having confidence, in yourself and your knowledge is also key. Patients are usually scared. They are in a situation they don’t understand and you will be the professional that is at the bedside the most to help them. Your expertise is invaluable. When they ask you a question about their condition, you should never start with “well, um, I think it is because…”. I would not trust you either. You patients need you to be their rock in all this. Making sure you get the proper nurse education will help you gain confidence. Here is a great list of personality traits and skills that make a good nurse.
In addition to the three personality traits EVERY nurse should possess. There are some that are specific to different types of nurses.So you can see there is a place for every personality type within nursing! In addition nurses should also possess certain skills. Click here for my top 3 list of nursing skills you can start working on today if you have the personality traits listed above.
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