Being a nurse isn’t easy, but it’s extremely rewarding for the right person. Dedicated nurses can keep people alive through their hard work, and they can bring a little burst of sunshine to a dim hospital room with their kind words.
But how can you know if you have it in you to be a good nurse?
The traits below are crucial characteristics, essential to every RN.
Take this quiz, and if you score high, you’re ready to join the nursing industry!
- Caring. Do you believe you have it in you to care for a human being you’ve never met before whose going through a hard time, and show the person that you care?
- Positivity. Being a patient is not always such a fun experience, but having a pessimistic or grumpy nurse will make the situation a lot worse. A positive nurse will keep the patient feeling as upbeat as possible, and a happier patient is easier to treat! Are you an eternal optimist who will put a positive spin on things, and add cheerfulness to the atmosphere?
- Physical Stamina. Nurses are on their feet a lot. Imagine sitting down once in twelve hours! As a nurse, you’ll be striding down corridors, lifting patients, and pushing wheelchairs, all while in your nursing scrubs. Do you think you’ve got the muscle?
- Emotional Stability. In nearly all workplaces where nurses are employed, trauma and tragedy are commonplace. It can get quite stressful at times, with so many emergencies going on all at once… Do you consider yourself to be a level-head type of girl? Can you pull yourself together and do what needs to be done even during a crisis, without getting flustered and teary-eyed?
- Attention to Detail. A nurse has a lot of power in her hands. With the right medications in the right dosages, she can heal people, and save countless lives. But nurses need to be very careful, and have a keen eye for detail, so as to prevent errors from occurring. Are you a detail-oriented person?
- Communication Skills. There is a lot of communication involved when it comes to being a nurse. Nurses need to communicate with doctors, co-workers, patients and their families, as well as advocate for their patients when necessary. They also need to have the ability to follow directions. Would you say that you have good communication skills?
- Passion for Truth. Sometimes a nurse will discover that something was or is being done incorrectly during the patient’s stay at the facility. It can take confidence and a passion for truth to go over to the person who’s in charge, and tell him the mistake that was made. And if someone else denies that the mistake ever occurred, it’ll take even more grit and passion to stick to your guns, and relentlessly pursue justice. Do you think you have that inner sense of justice?
If you scored at least five out of seven, you can apply for nursing school immediately; you’d make a fantastic RN!