Nurses play a vital part in the medical industry, helping to care for patients and maintain health records. Whilst getting necessary qualifications can be tough, there are plenty of opportunities to choose from once you’re qualified – nursing is a job that is always in high demand. If you’ve been thinking of pursuing a career as a nurse, here are some of the qualities that you may need.
Personal skills
As a nurse, you’ll be constantly working with people and helping to reassure them and understand their problems. It’s a great job for those that are naturally people pleasers – you need to show compassion at all times, even if your patients are acting hostile towards you (it takes a lot of patience to work with patients!). Strong communication skills are also needed – you’ll need to be able to describe problems to your patients and fellow staff members in a clear manner so that there is no confusion.
You’ll also need to be willing to get your hands dirty – nurses have to perform all kinds of gruelling jobs and you’ll need to be comfortable working with all manner of bodily fluids. Being physically fit is also important as you’ll be on your feet for hours at a time.
Education
Becoming a nurse requires completing a three year course. To access these courses, you’ll need good grades at school (health-related subjects such as biology and chemistry can be some of the most valuable). There are education options out there that could expand your options such as a DNP, which could allow you to take on some of the roles of a doctor. You can find out how to get a DNP online. You may also be able to specialise in different types of nursing such as paediatric nursing, mental health nursing or geriatric nursing – a general course may be able to cover all of these areas, however a specialised course could improve your chances of getting into these specific roles.
Experience
Having some experience working in a medical setting could be a bonus when applying for nursing roles. You could try getting a part-time job as a porter to understand how a hospital works – porters help to move equipment and patients around the hospital as well as collecting medication for doctors and nurses. Another useful source of experience could be working in a care home or working with the elderly/disabled – this will show people that you have the caring skills to work with patients. You could also consider doing some voluntary work – there are many charities out there that work with the sick and injured, which can help you to build necessary skills needed to work as a nurse.
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