Through the eyes of a newbie: Successful Nurse
Nursing is a profession of caring for the individual, while the doctors are caring about the disease. Except for the fundamental knowledge base, qualities to be a successful nurse are not taught in school, some are innate and some are developed through experience and careful observation of the surroundings once you are practicing after finishing the nursing school. This is due to the fact that while you’re still in school many people, including myself, worry more about not failing courses and the clinical, than gather skills. What makes a nurse successful is the ability of making the best out of the interaction with the surrounding you people and picking up on their virtues. …show more content…
Some of the qualities indispensable for a nurse to be successful are compassion, respect, ability to stay calm under pressure, experience, and a solid knowledge base. Compassion is one of the fundamental nursing qualities, it can be simulated, and it can’t be taught. One of the dangers of working in an environment of pain, loss, and prolonged illness is detachment. With time some nurses, after seeing the human suffering for a long time get dry and desensitized to human emotions as a defense mechanism. This defense mechanism makes it easier to get through the day, but at the cost of the patient care. The ultimate reason of the healthcare to exist is to care for people. And this is why it’s important to preserve compassion to another human being throughout your career as a nurse. One of my now coworkers, Melissa, a cheerful nurse that spent the last thirty five years in the ICU, dealing with life and death on a daily basis. She was taking care of an elderly patient in the room next to where I had my assignment. It is not unusual for elderly patients who end up in the ICU after a major surgery to become temporarily confused. It is mainly due to the stress and demands on an already fragile body, new unfamiliar environment and people, lack of sleep, and drugs they receive during and after the