Do you want to learn more about the nursing profession? Learn what every nurse needs to succeed in this challenging career with our helpful guide.
Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry; every medical professional, from physicians to administrators, will tell you the same. But it’s also a challenging job that requires particular skills.
We’ve put together some crucial things every nurse needs to have a successful career for those interested in joining the profession or who want to learn more about nursing.
Critical Thinking Skills
Nurses will tell you that their job isn’t like any other 9-5 career—every day and shift presents new challenges and circumstances. The key to being a successful nurse is developing critical thinking skills to overcome new daily problems.
The best nurses are the ones who can think on their feet and use critical reasoning to come up with out-of-the-box solutions. Much of this comes from simple experience; the more times you’re presented with a unique problem, the better you’ll be at overcoming them—as long as you embrace the obstacle and the challenge.
Insurance Coverage
On a practical level, no matter how much education or skills a nurse possesses, they’re still human. Humans, as we all know, make mistakes, and in the healthcare industry, mistakes can lead to severe consequences.
Malpractice lawsuits are simply part of the job as a medical professional, which is why malpractice insurance is essential for every nurse. If you haven’t already, learn what to look for when buying malpractice insurance and find the right coverage so that you’re not left exposed should a malpractice claim arise.
Ability To Adapt to Industry Trends
The healthcare field is an ever-involving industry with endless new methods, technologies, and practices. Nurses operating in the day-to-day operations of healthcare frequently adapt to changing circumstances. For a nurse to thrive, they have to be able to evolve with the industry.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, everything can change seemingly at a moment’s notice. A nurse needs to be able to adapt to significant changes in the healthcare field, whether it’s new technology, working in a new environment, or something else entirely.
Work-Life Balance
Perhaps the biggest challenges that nurses face are burnout and mental fatigue. The pandemic exacerbated the problem in many ways, but many industry experts warned about the dangers of burnout in the nursing field long before COVID-19.
Nursing is not an easy job—it can be mentally and emotionally taxing to the point that many opt to leave the field voluntarily. Some of the strategies nurses can do to combat burnout include:
- Setting boundaries between work and personal life
- Getting enough sleep
- Seeking therapy
- Unplugging from electronics at home
- Making time for exercise
They may seem like simple strategies, but these self-care techniques often fall by the wayside after a grueling shift. For nurses, work-life balance discipline is crucial to long-term success.
That are just a few examples of what every nurse needs to have a successful career, but there are plenty more. While a challenging profession, every nurse will also tell you it’s one of the most rewarding and satisfying!
