To be considered successful in the field of nursing, you need to have compassion compassion for patients and compassion for your fellow nurses. As well as other skills such as time management and, of course, a desire to ensure that the highest level of care is met in the area where you work.
However, if you have been a nurse for some time now, you may have been thinking about ways you can advance your career. Especially if the 12-hour shifts on the ER ward are wearing a bit thin. You will be glad to know that many options are available to you, such as a nurse practitioner, which is one of the most prevalent and sought-after roles alongside registered nurses.
Being a nurse practitioner will generally involve you seeing patients in your own office. You may work in either a hospital setting or community surgery, but you will be in charge of diagnosing patients with illnesses and treating them. This usually involves prescribing medication, and it also involves providing care plans and referrals to experts and consultants if one of your patients presents with an unusual or challenging case outside of your remit.
If this sounds like your dream job, then being a nurse practitioner may be the next natural step in your career. Are the skills required for being a nurse practitioner different from being a registered nurse?
Here are some of the main skills that a nurse practitioner needs to have to be successful in the field and help improve patients’ lives in their care:
Communication
It is one thing to be a nurse working on a ward and to convey information to a patient or their family about their illness. It is another area altogether to deliver a medical diagnosis, order further laboratory testing, or order potentially invasive tests such as a lumbar puncture. However, this will be part of the role of a nurse practitioner.
You will also need to practice the general skills that you learned in nursing specialties. Such as showing empathy for every patient under your care and ensuring that those you care for feel heard and understood with their concerns. You will also need to answer questions about treatment options and illnesses that you may be treating. You will need to be aware that you may be seeing a wider range of patients, so you will be responsible for navigating language barriers, religious customs, and providing avenues for those with developmental or neurological disabilities to communicate. In short, you will need to be confident in breaking down complex medical jargon into everyday language. So your patients can understand and respond to what you are saying.
This may vary based on where you may work, and each state has a different role for its nurse practitioners. Here is a short guide on what you can expect when working as a nurse practitioner in different states across the US, relating to clinical responsibilities.
Of course, your written communication will also have to be top-notch, as you will be required to take medical notes and explain the reasons why you have referred a patient for a certain set of diagnostic tests.
Leadership
If you want to train and work as a nurse practitioner, you have been a lead nurse on your ward for a long time, so you will know a great deal to know nurse leadership qualities & skills, especially when it comes to mentoring trainee nurses and more junior members of staff, as well as interacting with the multidisciplinary team, and making sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to delivering the best possible patient care.
Now, however, as a nurse practitioner, you will be making decisions about patient care directly and will need to provide information to your colleagues, the patient, and their family members or carers, all while displaying care and compassion, no matter how frustrated you may feel by certain team members or anything that is happening in your personal life.
You will also need to be confident in your own skills when making decisions in tough and emotionally challenging situations. You need to be a team player but take charge if the circumstances change quickly, this can be the case if you are a nurse practitioner in a hospital or out in the community. As a leader, you will also need to delegate tasks to other members of your team, as you cannot do everything alone. With this comes the follow-up of ensuring those tasks are completed correctly and taking responsibility if they are not.
That is not to say that you are entirely responsible for everything that goes on in your ward. You may need to ask for help or a second opinion from another nurse practitioner. Or a doctor relating to a diagnosis or patient care. You must always have the best interests of your patients at heart, and you also need to ensure that your fellow nurses and healthcare professionals are working in a safe environment.
Simply put, if you have been a nurse working on a short-staffed ward before, your leadership skills are already going to be first-rate. Being a nurse practitioner is simply an extension of this all with a greater emphasis on providing the best patient care behind every decision you make.
Analytical Skills
Once again, if you have been working as a nurse in a clinical setting, your analytical skills are likely to be first-rate. Especially if you have worked with individuals suffering from mental health issues. Who may not be able to vocalize when they are not feeling well. Or, you may have worked with children or the elderly, who may also have issues with communication.
As a nurse practitioner, it goes one step further, and the most successful people in this field are able to adapt the way they care for their patients. Or make changes and corrections based on the situation and what your patient needs.
Usually, based on what patients are reporting to you or what their tests show, you will need to be able to analyze symptoms and determine the best course of action. To help relieve discomfort and make your patients more comfortable. In line with being an analytical thinker comes being a critical thinker. You will need to weigh up the pros and cons for your patient when making changes to their care. You will also have to be prepared for when these changes may not necessarily work out for the best, and you will need to be able to analyze why and respond.
Patience Under Stress
Nurse practitioners that work in a provider position need to be able to answer difficult questions. Which may come from the patients themselves or their families. And you will need to remain calm during these stressful periods. This is the best way to manage stress and avoid depression in your job. While giving clear directions and advice as well as answers.
It is also important that when working in such a stressful environment, you do not take things personally. This is almost certainly a skill that you will have developed when working as a registered nurse. It is also worth noting that when a patient becomes frustrated or is in discomfort, they may lash out. In most cases, the patient will be frustrated with the situation and not with you. You need to be able to deal with these stressful situations with a professional attitude and a clear head.
Core Competency
To be a nurse practitioner, you need to have your core competency skills. Which the National Organization Of Nurse Practitioner Faculties has defined. You will need to understand the scientific foundations behind medicine and medical care.
This will include pharmacology, testing, and the reasons behind any results. As well as interpreting what the tests mean accurately. You will also need to have core leadership skills. Which were discussed earlier in this article. Quality will be something that you need to hold highly, especially if you are managing a team of nurses. You will need to ensure that all the patients on your ward receive top-quality care. You will also need to regularly conduct quality care reports. This is usually done with an external provider who will assess your ward or practice to ensure that patients under your care are receiving the required care safely and with legal practices and in compliance with the most current standards.
You need to be trained in technology and information literacy so you can use computer software to record patient observations and make notes. You will be expected to send files digitally. This is important as you may need to transfer files to other wards within the hospital or from the doctors’ surgery where you work and send them to external providers of care, especially if a referral has been made.
You will need to be aware of your state’s health policies, health delivery systems, and ethics to ensure that your patient gets the best level of care and that your staff is not involved in illegal activities. The health policies and health delivery systems are typically updated once a year, and you will need to keep up to date with them, while ensuring that the codes are followed to the letter.
