15 Essential Skills Nurses Should Know | Full Lists Of nurses skills

This detailed article is on skills nurses need to have. Everyone knows nurses are the most important people in the hospital, right? They’re there to take care of everyone and make sure they get the best care possible. Before we know skills nurses should have, do you know how could someone not be happy with a nurse? Well, they could be handy with a stethoscope and know where everything is. Do you know all skill of nurse?

But if you want your hospital stay to go as smoothly as possible, you need to know exactly what that nurse is doing. Are they checking vitals? Is there an infection causing those high fevers or a urinary tract infection causing some horrible pain? Are they drawing blood for testing or administering medications? The answers to these questions and more can be found by learning about essential nursing skills. Lets find out Skills Nurses Should.

Our lists of nurses skills (Skills Nurses Should have) include both technical in terms of profession and non-technical but behavioral or personal attitudes. Below are the top 14 skills to be a nurse with FAQs.

1. Empathy

Do you reserve judgment and show empathy when a patient with addiction relapses and is admitted to your unit for the second time this month? We believe this is number one Skills Nurses Should have.

2. Anesthesia skills

Anesthesia is the process of putting patients under general anesthesia. Anesthesiologists are the doctors who administer anesthesia. The nurse who is assisting with the surgery is called the anesthesiologist’s assistant (AA). This nurse is responsible for assisting with the surgery and watching the patient’s vital signs throughout the surgery. These vital signs include temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and respiration. Let’s continue to read on Skills Nurses Should.

3. Initiative and strong work ethic

If you frequently left tasks undone for the next shift and then applied for a charge nurse position, would you expect to get it?

4. Critical care skills

You might be asked to take care of someone who has suffered a traumatic injury, such as severe burns or a spinal cord injury. In this case, you’ll need to be able to identify what those injuries look like and know how to treat them. Critical care nurses are highly trained to notice small, but important, details that might escape other health care providers. For example, a person with burns might have a pale or bluish coloring to the skin because the skin doesn’t have enough blood.

Although the person is feeling fine, the burns are causing the skin to be pale. If a person has a severe head injury, you need to be able to recognize that the person has a severe injury and know what to do.

5. Teamwork

What if you’re chatting about your weekend plans with your colleagues and one of your colleagues then needs your assistance during a rapid response event later?

6. Cytotechnology skills

DNA and RNA samples are stored in a lab, but they must be analyzed by an expert to determine their purity, content, and health. These samples are important to medical research, but they must be handled carefully so they don’t get damaged in the lab. A cytotechnologist is a person who analyzes samples. There are a lot of skills you need to be a competent cytotechnologist, such as knowing how to use a computer to enter data, knowing lab safety practices and regulations, and knowing the equipment in the lab.

7. Dietitian skills

Nutrition and dietetics help patients make informed choices about their health care. The dietitian can help you determine what nutrients you need to stay healthy, such as vitamins, minerals, protein, and fat. The dietitian can also help you figure out how best to get the nutrients you need, such as how often to eat specific foods or how often to take a specific pill.

A dietitian can also make sure your food is safe for consumption. You’ll want to work with a dietitian if you need help changing health habits, such as eating a healthier diet, reducing your sugar intake, or following a specific diet, such as a vegan diet.

8. Attitude and confidence

What if you were certain that your patient had the typical signs and symptoms of heart failure, but were too afraid to alert the nurse practitioner of the severe alteration in your patient’s clinical status, due to your doubts about your clinical judgment?

9. Critical thinking and creative problem solving

How have nurses responded to the demands of COVID-19? What innovations have you witnessed or been a part of? To what extent has personal protective equipment limited family visits?

10. Electronic health record (EHR) skills

Many hospitals use electronic health records to record patients’ health care. EHRs may have a digital version of your medical record. Electronic health records have made it easier for doctors to keep track of all your health care information. This means you’ll have fewer pieces of paper with health information written on them. A health care assistant or nurse who works with an EHR is called an information technology (IT) person. IT personnel can make sure healthcare facilities’ computers are connected to an EHR, which means information is easy to find and understand.

11. Communication Skills

What if you were great at inserting intravenous catheters and the nurses your colleagues turned to when they had a patient with “impossible veins,” but you weren’t able to effectively communicate critical information about the patient’s care at hand-off?

12. Infection control and prevention skills

Some hospitals have specially trained nurses who educate patients and their families on how to prevent germs, infections, and diseases. This is known as infection control. This includes learning how to wash your hands properly, how to clean a surface before touching it, and how to get rid of trash. One of the most important skills related to infection control is knowing how to prevent the spread of germs.

13. Adaptability & Professionalism

How do you present yourself as a nurse? Do you agree or disagree with the statement: When a change in policy or practice is instituted, are you open to the evidence supporting it?

Is it possible for you to be open to the evidence supporting a change in policy or practice? How do you present yourself as a nurse? In what ways do your actions and words say something about your character?

14. Mental health support skills

When someone is sick or in emotional distress, you want to make sure they receive the support they need. The mental health nurse can give patients and families advice on how to manage their emotions and get the support they need. You can find a mental health nurse in a variety of ways, such as through a hospital’s website or through searching for nurses in your area. Hospitals may also have a mental health volunteer who can help you find someone who can help you find support after a hospital stay.

15. Nutrition and food service skill-building exercises

Being able to take a blood sample is just one of the skills a registered dietitian has to know. The dietitian is responsible for everything from choosing the right foods for patients to making sure those foods are nutritious. A dietitian will likely have food service skills, such as knowing how to set up a food service area, how to give food to people, and how to keep the food safe. The dietitian’s job is crucial to the health care of patients. If a patient is on a special diet, such as an anti-cancer diet, the dietitian has to make sure those meals are prepared correctly. If a patient is eating less fat, the dietitian has to make sure they have plenty of vegetable options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Tools for Success

Now that you’ve read about the importance of these skills and what they entail, you can start to plan how to get them. There’s no book that can teach you everything you need to know, so you need to start with what other nurses and health care providers already know. There are plenty of great nursing and healthcare skills books out there. Many libraries have them and also have extensive online databases with information on health care and nursing. You can also look at websites such as Nursing Skills Illustrated and EHRicons.

What are essential nursing skills?

Essential nursing skills are the skills that are most important for nurses to know. You need to know how to prevent infections and handle critical care patients, but you also need to know how to give medication correctly, how to draw blood samples, how to use an electronic health record, and how to help a patient with mental health issues.

Video on Nursing Etiquette: How to interact at work

Conclusion

It’s easy to get intimidated by nursing, but it doesn’t have to be. The key is to learn the small things that will make a big difference. Here are some essential nursing skills any nurse should know. Nursing is a competitive field, so sooner or later you’re going to run into someone who’s better than you at everything under the sun.

Keeping your skills sharp can help you keep pace with that knowledge curve, and these 10 essential skills of nurse or nurse skills will make sure you stay up-to-date in your field.