If you are searching for a promising career path for yourself in the medical field, you need to consider nursing. Nursing is the most trusted profession in the world. It is a noble job. A nurse is a person who nourishes, fosters and protects—a person who is prepared to care for the sick, injured, and aged. Let’s take a look at some qualities a nurse should possess. But first, let’s see if you fit in.
What Qualities Make a Good Nurse?
A good nurse must be academic, observant, and highly professional. If a nurse is not self-sacrificing—if they have a selfish streak or resents advice from others higher up the medical hierarchy—that nurse will become unsuitable both for patients and colleagues.
Several qualities are indispensable: As a nurse, you have to show warmth. You must be tolerant and show empathy—Flexibility, tolerance, and patience. You also have to be open-minded and get on well with your colleagues and the medical hierarchy. Finally, you must quickly assimilate new skills to remain efficient.
You must love people and want to help others. Also, it would be best if you coped with stress because it is all or nothing in nursing. Finally, you must be adaptable to do the same work when you sometimes have fewer fellow workers—without compromising quality.
Your Country Needs You!
The number of Nurses practicing in Nigeria’s public healthcare sector is inadequate for the responsibilities facing the public healthcare sector in the country. Here is a brain drain in the nursing sector. e need about 800 000 nurses to take care of the challenges in our public healthcare sector, but unfortunately, we have fewer than 400 000 nurses.
Nurses in Nigeria are licensed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) to practice professionally after undergoing rigorous and thorough educational and clinical training and have passed required professional examinations. Here are a few training pathways to attain this professional status. Becoming a nurse in Nigeria requires nursing training either in a School of Nursing, a School of Basic midwifery or a University.
The Joys of Being a Nurse
For those who sincerely desire their work and lives to make a profound impact on the world around them, it’s hard to beat nursing as a way to do that. Of course, not everyone can go home from work thinking about the ways they’ve helped make someone’s life better, but nurses definitely can.
The joys of nursing abound, depending on a person’s field of nursing activity. Midwives, for example, feel rewarded with every successful birth. The satisfaction of contributing to an operation’s success and being a member of a fascinating and constantly progressing profession is indescribable. The expressions of thanks nurses receive from patients and their families, especially in emergencies when they recover a patient without hope.
Nurses deal with pain, complex patients, and death often, but there are so many highlights and bright silver linings that the rest often seems to fade away at the end of the day.
The Challenges
Along with the joys of nursing come many challenges. There is no room for mistakes! Whether giving medication, drawing blood, inserting an intravenous device, or even simply moving a patient, a nurse must be conscientious. They cannot afford to slip up—especially in lands where litigation is expected.
Another problem nurses have to face is violence on the job. Often, the problem comes from patients who are on drugs, have been drinking, are under stress, or are affected by grief.
Nurses also have to contend with burnout caused by stress. Again, staff shortages are one factor. Hen, a conscientious nurse, cannot give adequate care to a patient because of work overload; pressure soon builds up. Trying to fix the situation by skipping breaks and overtime leads to more frustration.
The growth and influence of technology increase the pressures in the nursing field. The challenge is reconciling technology with humanity, the humane way of dealing with patients. However, machines can never replace a nurse’s touch and compassion.
Worldwide many hospitals are understaffed. Another reason for stress is that shifts are often too long and wages too low. n Nigeria, the nurses are migrating in droves, leaving the workforce understaffed and overworked.
Nursing is a noble profession. You’ll need rigorous training to be qualified to practice. However, it is worth it. You get to impact society and the joys of helping people. There are challenges, of course, as is with every career. These challenges include physical, emotional and mental experiences that result from the particular requirements of working as a nurse. But you can overcome them and maintain joy in your work.
