12 Key Qualities of a Nurse

Understanding the key qualities of a nurse is essential for healthcare organizations seeking to hire nurses. Compassion, communication skills, empathy, and critical thinking are among the key attributes that lead to a nurse’s success in delivering quality patient care in a dynamic health care landscape.

What are some key qualities of a nurse? From compassion to stamina and endurance, these top 12 characteristics may point to a career in nursing.

Today’s healthcare industry is characterized by a growing patient population and shortages across multiple sectors of professionals. Because of this, registered nurses are more in demand than ever. They stand apart from most other professions in terms of overall career prospects, their impact on patient care, and the communication and leadership they facilitate within the patient care team.

New nurses are continuing to enter the workforce in an effort to make up the nursing shortfall. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there will be 177,400 new nurses who have entered the field by 2032. Looking for specific key qualities among nursing students and professionals can help identify those who are best suited to provide quality compassionate care.

In Concordia University Irvine’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program, students receive a holistic nursing education that instills a nursing philosophy founded on care, compassion, and competency. Our curriculum is built on Christian values and is designed to prepare students with the skills and knowledge needed to become competent nurses who are committed to serving their communities.

In this post, we will examine some of the most crucial qualities that make a good nurse and share how students who graduate from Concordia University Irvine’s ABSN program receive an education promoting these key qualities.

1. Compassion

Many nurses enter the field because compassion is one of their leading qualities. While nursing as a career offers job security and many options for career advancement, exhibiting compassion for patients and their well-being is what drives exceptional patient care.

A cornerstone of compassionate patient care is practicing cultural sensitivity while treating diverse patient populations. This is foundational to Concordia University Irvine’s Nursing Philosophy and Mission. We strive to prepare our students to be socially responsive in a diverse world and invest in the holistic development of themselves as nurses.

Nurses who display compassion to their patients have a greater likelihood of creating a positive patient care experience, making this a key indicator for nurse success.

2. Communication Skills

Strong communication skills are an essential nursing characteristic. Good nurses effectively communicate with other nurses, physicians, and clinicians in different units and with patients and their families.

Nurses are often the professionals who note and share changes in a patient’s condition, and medical errors or suboptimal care are more likely to occur without clear communication led by nurses among the patient care team. Proactive communication leads to improved patient outcomes, so prioritizing this nursing skill can be a positive for patients as well as other medical professionals.

3. Caring

Nurses care for countless patients during the course of their careers, so it can sometimes feel like a challenge to stay fully emotionally engaged on a daily basis. However, each patient you encounter will likely be experiencing a stressful moment in their life with specific fears and anxieties.

By practicing empathy, nurses can better administer personalized care to their patients, focusing on a person-centered approach. An empathetic and caring approach helps nurses create a holistic view of the patient and build closer relationships. It instills a value system in nurses that informs how they approach each patient while respecting individual patient values, as well.

When you showcase these qualities of a good nurse while interacting with patients, it provides a far better care experience and healing journey.

4. Organization and Attention to Detail

Nurses are under immense pressure as they balance their own knowledge, skills, and critical judgment to provide the highest quality patient care. In addition, they care for multiple patients simultaneously, so staying organized is crucial in avoiding errors.

Documentation is another area in which being organized and detail-oriented is a key nursing skill. Keeping a clear record of what changed in a patient’s condition and when can help fellow professionals to perform their jobs and provide the best possible care.

5. Problem-Solving Skills

Problem-solving skills are integral to a nurse’s competency. As a nurse, you will encounter countless situations with variables changing on the fly. Being able to quickly take in a situation and apply problem-solving skills to find the best solution can make all the difference for a patient in need of help. When honing your problem-solving skills as an ABSN student, in-person clinical rotations provide irreplacable on-the-job training under professional guidance.

While these skills develop further through professional experience over time, they require a solid foundation established by a comprehensive nursing education. The Concordia ABSN program allows students to refine their skills through a holistic curriculum as they learn to hone their problem-solving skills, critical judgment, and nursing competency.

6. Stamina and Endurance

The physical demand on nurses is one of the most underestimated aspects of their role. Nursing is physically and emotionally demanding, requiring nurses to work long shifts and perform physically strenuous tasks. Nurses lift and move patients, walk several miles per shift, and manage high-pressure situations.

The average nursing shift can be demanding on a mental and emotional level, and nurses need to be able to carry out their duties while still supporting their coworkers and patients. Stamina and endurance are vital qualities of a nurse that enable them to sustain their performance and deliver consistent care. Therefore, nurses must prioritize their own physical and emotional health to meet the demands of this role.

7. A Sense of Humor

Your career as a nurse can place you in contact with difficult and stressful moments on a nearly daily basis. Coping skills like humor can help you cut tension and deal with stress among your patients and fellow professionals. The ability to find moments of levity in this profession can contribute to morale and create a supportive atmosphere.

Patients and colleagues will also experience stressful situations in a clinical environment, and humor may not always be appropriate for the situation at hand. However, humor is a tool to connect with patients and display the human side of nursing while lifting their spirits. Keeping a mindset where you still laugh at the little things in life is a good indicator that you also have other positive characteristics of a nurse.

8. Commitment to Patient Advocacy

Advocating for patients is one of the most important roles that nurses carry out in healthcare, and is a prominent element of the American Nurses Association’s Nursing Code of Ethics. Many patients entering a clinical setting are in a stressful and unfamiliar situation, and they might not have all of the information they need to make the best-informed decisions in their care. Nurses as medical professionals have more face-to-face time with patients than most other members of the patient care team, which makes them excellently poised to serve as a caring advocate.

Advocacy as a nurse means communicating with patients, understanding their wants and needs, educating them on their options, and keeping them informed while collaborating on their care with other professionals. From a wider organizational level down to individual interactions, advocating for patients is key to delivering the highest possible quality of care.

9. Willingness to Learn and Grow

With constant technological improvements and scientific breakthroughs, continuing education is the cornerstone of evidence-based practice in nursing. This is another aspect of the field specifically touched on by the Nursing Code of Ethics, which holds a provision stating “The nurse, in all roles and settings, advances the profession through research and scholarly inquiry, professional standards development, and the generation of both nursing and health policy.”

You will graduate with a BSN degree ready to enter the current nursing field, but flexibility and a willingness to learn are required characteristics to provide top-quality care over time. Willingness to develop yourself as the field evolves — and put new best practices into action — will stay applicable to your work on a daily basis.

10. Strong Critical Thinking

While a continued willingness to learn is vital, successfully putting your nursing knowledge into practice requires critical thinking and decisive action — especially in high-stress situations. A nurse who has honed their critical thinking skills and can keep calm under pressure will be poised to respond well even in potential life-or-death scenarios.

As a Concordia University Irvine ABSN student, your critical thinking is tested and honed throughout your 16 months of classes, labs and clinicals. You will gain experience in responding to constantly-changing situations, and graduate ready to enter the field. As we’ve already explored, learning as a nurse is a lifelong journey and critical thinking is just one aspect that you will continue to improve. Eventually you will have the insight to mentor students and new nurses, just like how you will have been taught and supported.

11. Good Time Management

Balancing multiple patients with varying needs and an ever-changing schedule can be one of the more difficult aspects of the profession. There never seem to be enough hours in the day to complete everything you want to achieve, but this is where teamwork and time management come in.

First, rest assured that your colleagues understand where you are coming from. Just like with your fellow cohort members as a nursing student, you are all taking on a challenge and must be willing to help one another succeed. Sometimes you will have the ability to take over a responsibility for a colleague, and other times they may need to lighten the load for you.

That being said, effective time management is a crucial habit to cultivate in your nursing career. From optimizing your path during rounds and prioritizing the most critical issues first, to finding the time for proper documentation, you will use this skill daily to optimize workflow and ensure timely and effective care.

12. Integrity and Leadership

As professionals who seamlessly move between administering care, communicating with patients and leading collaboration across patient care teams, many nurses will be well-suited to take on leadership roles in healthcare. Especially in today’s environment with increasing nurse professionalization and an ongoing physician shortage, healthcare providers are increasingly turning to nurses as candidates to fill administrative and leadership roles.

In the context of leadership (as well as other roles), integrity is among the most important qualities of a nurse. Not compromising on your principles while delivering care establishes trust and credibility with patients and colleagues, and serves as a guiding principle for the culture of any organization.

Does a Nursing Career Sound Right for You?

If the idea of a career where you put these key nursing qualities into practice sounds appealing, nursing could be the perfect opportunity for a lasting, lucrative career. Concordia University Irvine’s ABSN program can offer an accelerated path into this new profession. Contact us today to begin the conversation.