When nurses possess important nursing qualities, CEOs know their staff will thrive in the healthcare setting. Studies increasingly show that the qualities of a good nurse are what most influence their career path. So what are the most important qualities of a nurse, and how do you find nurses who possess them?
What makes a good nurse?
A factor that has recently come into focus is the question, “What makes a good nurse?” Frequently, a nurse’s individual qualities powerfully influence retention.
You might think that nursing school provides the characteristics of a good nurse, but soft skills are often more important than broad nursing knowledge for healthcare providers.
Being able to treat multiple patients concurrently in the nursing profession is essential. However, showing compassion and integrity, which is characteristic of a nurse, counts for top patient care, too. A good nurse must possess several essential nurse characteristics.
What are the typical good qualities of a nurse?
15 essential nursing qualities that managers typically look for in nurses when hiring are:
- Critical thinking skills and assessment capabilities
- Teamwork skills and supporting other nurses through mentorship in nursing
- Flexibility as a personality trait
- Strong communication skills
- Being organized
- Ability to pay attention to detail
- Demonstrating caring, compassion, and empathy
- Time management skills and punctuality
- Ability to maintain a healthy work-life balance
- Practicing self-care
- Commitment to lifelong learning
- Physical stamina and endurance
- Emotional resilience and a sense of humor
- Problem-solving skills
- Integrity and honesty
You might think acquiring a healthcare team with nurse qualities is easy—in fact, an overwhelming majority of Americans believe that nurses are the most ethical professionals. However, hiring prospective nurses with valuable nursing qualities actually requires focused research to understand what to look for.
Why are the characteristics of a nurse important?
When your nursing staff has many of the above qualities of a nurse, your healthcare facility can be a high-reliability organization; you will be able to rely on your nurses to be dedicated, diligent, and efficient workers who can avoid medical errors.
A 2022 nurse turnover study found that 17.6% of nurses had turnover intentions and viewed their health as poor, compared to just 1.7% of nurses with a turnover intention who viewed their health as good. The nurses with higher turnover intention were not focused on self-care and were unable to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Additionally, the research found significantly higher job stress in nurses with turnover intention. Those nurses lacked nurse characteristics of endurance and resilience.
Conflict with other nurses was another significant factor in turnover intention. This shows the importance of nurses having good teamwork skills.
The qualities of a nurse clearly influence how well they work and how long their nursing career lasts.
The top 3 qualities of a nurse that affect retention
A separate study investigated which character qualities of a nurse most directly influence retention. Pham et al found that nurses with these turnover-reducing traits also intended to improve their professional capabilities and invest in long-lasting nursing careers:
- Self-directedness
- Cooperativeness
- Persistence
The characteristic you might have thought was important to a great nurse—avoiding harm—was linked to a lack of interest in improving professional capabilities and higher turnover intention.
This shows that nurse retention is affected by personal factors related to a nurse’s attributes. Healthcare CEOs need to filter job applicants for the traits and attributes of a nurse that really count for retention.
How can you get more nurses with good qualities? 5 Practical Tips
A healthcare CEO and the HR team must actively seek nurses with desirable nursing qualities. How can they do this?
- Prepare a list of the qualities of a good nurse.
- Use a talent-hiring skill test that focuses on those skills.
- Read professional literature about hiring strategies – Jim Vaselopulos points out that “skills can be taught,” whereas values and traits will not change.
- Have a reward system in place for soft skills and retention for nurses who demonstrate the qualities of a nurse you want more of.
- Always check candidates’ nursing credentials for authenticity to ensure professional qualification.
How Dropstat can help bring out the best qualities of a good nurse
Dropstat is a forward-looking nursing staff scheduling app. Dropstats’s AI-powered tools empower top healthcare facilities to get even better by bringing out the best qualities in your staff and improving retention, helping you keep your best nurses for longer.
Dropstat encourages better communication through its internal secure staff chat system and tools for communicating shift updates and open shifts immediately and efficiently to all listed nurses for whom the message is relevant.
Additionally, Dropstat’s digitalized shift schedules are planned up to 60 days in advance via interactive, clear schedules, which support nurse schedulers and nurse managers in being systematic when organizing nurses’ shifts. This improves patient care and significantly helps nurses by reducing schedule-related angst and conflict.
Schedule a demo with Dropstat today and discover how better schedules bring out better nurse characteristics.
