Qualities of a Good Nurse

Nursing is a challenging and versatile profession that offers an array of career opportunities. In this profession, leadership is an intricate phenomenon with the nurse leader being tasked with demanding responsibilities. Additionally, there are certain qualities that a nurse leader must possess for them to effectively carry out their duties. Nurse leadership has significant differentiation from general leadership as a nurse leader is required to influence clinical practice. Power generally refers to strength, but in this concept, it denotes a person’s ability to steer others to attain set goals. The roles and outstanding characteristics of nurse leaders are what make them powerful nurses.

According to Hughes (2017), a great nurse is one that can establish healthy relationships with coworkers and patients. They possess personal and behavioral characteristics such as integrity, good communication, empathy and role modeling that help them to create and maintain effective relations. They utilize a relational-focused leadership style rather than a task-focused style. In the nursing profession, a professional relationship with colleagues and clients is vitQualities Of A Good Nurseal as it makes the workforce cohesive and the patients feel comfortable sharing the confidential information. The emotional intelligence of a nurse leader is also a key trait that helps in building professional relationships. It is the ability to perceive and express opinions and feelings to an individual. In the nursing profession, one is subjected to an emotional rollercoaster whereby there are good and bad days. A great nurse leader has to have the emotional capacity to coordinate and ensure that nurses execute their duties effectively. For example, if a nurse is going through a rough time it would be wise to give them some time-off as it may end up affecting their performance. A nurse leader empowers other nurses by instilling a level of trust whereby they trust their colleagues’ ability to carry out their duties.

A nurse leader offers guidance, motivation, and supervise other nurses in various clinical settings. Nurse leadership is paramount in the nursing profession as it an environment that is subject to the concept of chaos. A nurse leader takes charge to instill order in midst of chaos and ensure that patients receive appropriate care. Improving a patient’s outcome is a goal that every healthcare institution aims at achieving. However, lack of proper leadership deters the attainment of this goal. A leader empowers and motivates followers to utilize proper nursing practices. By working closely with nurses, nurse leaders have vast knowledge on contemporary issues in the nursing profession. They use the information to come up with better policies that improving the working condition for the nurse consequently improving patient’s outcome. They also have an insight into factors that may hinder or promote the future of the nursing profession which is applied to the development of nursing practices and knowledge (Scully, 2015). Furthermore, nurse leadership is vital in providing a vision for the future generation of nursing practitioners.

In conclusion, a powerful nurse is an individual with exceptional characteristics that steers other nurses to improve patient outcome and care. The nursing profession was founded with the aim of providing people with holistic care. A nurse leader ensures that patients receive proper care by motivating and empowering nursing practitioners. A nurse leader does not exercise authority to execute their duties. Their power stems from their knowledge and outstanding characteristics. There are able to build positive interpersonal relationships that improve the work environment, job satisfaction, and patient outcome.

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