Do you want to learn more about the qualities and attributes of a great nurse? You may be thinking about making a change in your nursing career and are curious about the traits that employers like Thornbury Nursing look for. Or maybe you’re interested in refining your skills as you advance and grow in your career.
At Thornbury Nursing, we’ve worked with many skilled and compassionate nurses every day. Through our years of experience, we’ve noticed there are common qualities and attributes that these outstanding nurses possess. And these characteristics not only allow nurses to excel at their jobs but also make a real difference in the lives of their patients.
Here’s a list of the top nine qualities and attributes that we see time and time again in our nurses at Thornbury Nursing:
Caring for other people is a quality that is at the very heart of nursing. It really is what the job is all about.
As a nurse, you need to be able to put aside prejudices or the temptation to judge others. It is important to be able to see patients as people who need you to provide them with the right care, consistently, at the right moments in their lives.
Being a good nurse isn’t just about providing patients with medicine or running tests. It’s about caring for and supporting people when they’re sick or scared, listening to them, alleviating their worries, and being there with them.
Compassion is a critical quality in nursing and comes from a natural response to act and help others.
Compassionate nursing is about respecting patients while understanding and working alongside them to help them. Every patient is different, with their own needs and concerns, and being compassionate means treating each person as an individual who deserves your full attention and skill.
Compassion is also about truly understanding your patients and their feelings. This involves really listening to them, to their tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language, as well as the words that they are saying. This can help you to better understand your patients and the right ways to help them.
Good communication is an important quality to have as a nurse. It helps everyone to work together to provide the best care possible.
With patients, it is essential that you are able to communicate clearly and honestly, avoiding medical jargon. Being able to explain what is happening at any given time is critical. That way, patients can truly understand what’s going on with their health, get the opportunity to ask questions and become more involved in their care.
Being able to explain things clearly and compassionately to family members is crucial too. It can help alleviate any worries that they have so they can feel confident in the care that their loved one is receiving.
Agency nurses with Thornbury Nursing also regularly work with different healthcare professionals, often at short notice. Good communication skills are necessary in these circumstances in order to be able to share information quickly and effectively with new teams and colleagues.
Courage is a key quality for any great nurse. There’s no doubt that, at times, it takes courage to be a nurse. From breaking bad news to patients and their families to challenging wrongdoing, it is a quality that means you always have the strength to do the right thing, even when it isn’t easy.
Courage in nursing is also about the everyday bravery it takes to care for people who are sick or hurt.
Courage helps you speak up and share your knowledge and experience too. You may notice that there’s a better way to do something and having the ability to speak up and look to action change can make a real difference to patient care and safety.
When working with a nursing agency like Thornbury Nursing, courage also helps you as you work on new assignments, go to new departments, and work with new colleagues. It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone, adapt quickly, learn new routines, and also become part of a new team.
Find out more about what is needed to join us. Browse the specialisms that we’re currently recruiting for at Thornbury.
Commitment is essential in nurses. When you’re committed, it shows in the way you put patients first. You’re there for people throughout their treatment, supporting them, no matter what happens.
It is important for nurses to be committed to delivering the highest quality of care at all times, ensuring that patients get the support that they need, when they need it. And that’s not just about administering medication or performing procedures. It’s also about providing emotional support, as well as empathy and understanding to every patient.
This level of commitment also extends to ongoing learning and professional development, which can help you to provide better care for your patients. A committed nurse is one who stays up to date with the constantly evolving world of healthcare, attending workshops and training, engaging in continuous personal development and even pursuing further qualifications.
As a nurse, it takes physical stamina to stay active during long shifts, especially when you’re on your feet for much of the time.
The role also demands mental stamina. You’ll likely witness emotionally charged moments, where emotional resilience and stability are needed to provide effective care to patients and also preserve your own mental wellbeing.
Good stamina can also help when needing to make quick and complex decisions. Being alert and attentive at all times means you can notice and act upon any changes in a patient’s symptoms and condition. And as things can change quickly, good stamina can help you have the mental clarity to be able to make the right decisions and take the right course of action.
The health sector is constantly changing in many areas. Being adaptable makes it easier for you to respond to any updates or changes that are made, quickly and effectively.
For example, technology in healthcare can change at a rapid pace, where not only initial learning, but also ongoing education is needed in order to stay up-to-date.
Adaptability is also an important quality for our nurses to have as they are often required to work in multiple settings, often at short notice. They need to be able to adapt to new protocols, teams, software and equipment well, so that they can fit into new work environments quickly and deliver quality care right away.
Another attribute that all great nurses have is good time management. With it, you are able to prioritise all the jobs you need to do in a day – patient care, teamworking, admin tasks, and family issues.
Being good at managing time can also help you to prioritise, set realistic goals and prepare for each day. It allows you to determine what you need to do and when, making sure important jobs get done first.
This nursing quality is great for patient care, as it can help you to remain focused and effective as you juggle the many parts of your job. It can also help you to achieve a greater work-life balance.
Attention to detail is a critical quality for nurses to possess. With a responsibility to give medication, monitor vital signs and fill out documentation, accuracy is valuable to both patient care and safety.
Good attention to detail can also help you to build trust with patients and their families. Thoroughness and great observation skills can help them to feel safe and well-cared for, which in turn can improve their healthcare experience.
Do you have the qualities and attributes that it takes to be a Thornbury nurse? We offer exceptional rates of pay to all our staff. To make the next move, you’ll need to register with the team.
We offer job opportunities for qualified nurses, and these are refreshed daily.
We are looking for exceptional nurses and midwives to join our team. Register with Thornbury to access high rates of pay, paid mileage and support with revalidation.
