Introduction To Nursing
The patients not only suffer physically, but they also go through mental stress. They need treatments, medications, and surgeries. Similarly, they require appropriate care. The relatives are not professional enough to look after the medical conditions of the patients. Thus, nurses are present in the healthcare industry to look after them. They are neither doctors nor the relatives of the patients, but they know how to take care of them. Here, let’s know about the Nursing Strengths and Weaknesses.
Nursing is one of the largest professions in America and healthcare is one of the most appreciated professions in the world. The nurses are of great value, and they show care for the people. The nurses and other healthcare workers get tributes for their sacrifices for the welfare of mankind.
Required Education
Most of the positions require the candidates to possess a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree. Some of the nursing positions need the candidates to have an Associate Degree in Nursing. It gets completed in two to three years. After completing the program, the candidates must appear for and clear the National Licensure Examination (NCLEX).
A candidate might also choose to pursue the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) directly without an Associate Degree. It gets completed in three to four years. The candidates have higher chances of getting recruited with higher salaries than those with an Associate Degree. These candidates must also clear the NCLEX exam to start practicing.
After getting the BSN degree, the candidates might also pursue the Master of Science in Nursing to have a more specific path in the field. However, earning a master’s degree is optional.
Advanced Nursing Program is available for candidates having a bachelor’s degree in some other relevant field. Through the program, the candidates can pursue the BSN degree within a year or three more months.
Strengths Of The Nursing Profession
The nurses must be capable of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of nursing to match their strengths and weaknesses with the job profile. Their strengths show how effective they will be while handling various responsibilities in this profession. These strengths motivate the nurses to do their job efficiently.
The following are the strengths of Nursing:
- Patient Safety
Doctors provide appropriate medications to the patients, but nurses are responsible for taking care of them before and after. The nurses must know the exact dosage of most of the medicines prescribed by the doctors, the symbols mentioned on the medicine packets, and the overall care for the patient. They must protect the patients from errors and harm and inform the patients and their families regarding the care to be taken. Nursing requires the candidates to have strong observation skills to carefully observe the effect of care provided to the patients and understand the mentality of the patients and their families.
- Meeting Different People
The nurses come across different types of patients, their families, vendors, medicine suppliers, doctors, and other related people during their working hours. They get to learn a lot about the people. Thus, they must possess strong communication skills both verbally and non-verbally. They must efficiently explain to the patients and their families regarding the care to be taken and ask relevant questions to the doctors.
- Empathy And Patience
The nursing profession appreciates the employees with empathy because they often face emotional situations related to the patients. The patients and their relatives mostly get scared and worried during the treatments. The patients get frustrated because of the bitter medicines, painful treatment, fear of death, and loneliness. Thus, the nurses must keep patience and understand the emotional situations of all of them and handle them accordingly. They must also observe the changing behaviors of the patients and report the same to the doctor.
- Time Management, Mental, And Physical Strength
Nurses mostly have to work for extended periods, as seen during the pandemic. They do juggle different responsibilities during critical situations. Thus, they get to learn how to prioritize multiple tasks. They might have to run throughout the healthcare structures if the number of responsibilities or patients gets increased. They must be strong enough to lift heavy objects (to a specific limit), fainted patients, or help in delivering the babies if asked to do so during an emergency. Mental strength is required to overcome the stress of having limited breaks.
- Getting Updated With The Changing Medical Technology
They might not have as deep knowledge of the medical technology as that of the doctors but, they must have more than enough knowledge regarding the medical technology they deal with and get updated with the changes in technology.
- Quick Decision Making
The nurses cannot perform every duty of a doctor. But, they must possess the ability to make wise decisions quickly in the absence of a doctor. They might not treat or operate the patients, but they can keep them stable until the appropriate doctor walks in.
Weaknesses Of The Nursing Profession
The nurses must ensure that the challenges in the nursing profession do not harm the environment and the patients as they are into a sensitive job. Every job has a set of challenges. But the healthcare centers want the nurses to conquer those challenges without affecting the environment. This profession requires the workers to handle a high level of stress. Thus, the nurses must be able to handle such situations wisely.
- Changing Technology
Technology replaces the workers. Surgeries performed using costly equipment cost much more to the patients, and not every patient can afford such expensive surgeries. The nurses have the burden of getting trained to handle these types of equipment. The pieces of equipment might go wrong sometimes. The nurses have lesser chances of catching the errors than the doctors. The systems can get hacked, and sensitive information may get leaked. So, the nurses must keep a higher level of privacy while handling the information systems. Sometimes, the system may even go down, which results in time consumption.
- Setting The Equipment
The nurses spend an initial half an hour from their working hours to set up the technical equipment for patient care. Till that time, the patients and the other staff members start roaming in the corridors unnecessarily. The nurses get distracted. This time could get used to serving the patients. This problem can get solved by using Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS). The RTLS tracks the real-time locations of the nurses within the healthcare center and allocates them to the appropriate tasks at a particular time.
- Fear And Discomfort
The nurses may assist the doctors during the surgeries, delivering babies, and treating the wounds. They might also come across severely injured patients. Thus, nurses with weaker hearts cannot survive in this profession. They must not get emotionally attached to the patients or their families. Some nurses might be allergic to some medicines or feel uncomfortable while collecting different samples or body fluids from the patient body. Such nurses might end up messing up with everything. They must also know how to dispose of hazardous biomedical waste.
- Handling A Wide Range Of People
Different people have different views related to treatments, illnesses, superstitions, and life and death. Also, the nurses cannot expect everyone to understand the medical terms they know. Thus, they must break the information into chunks to get interpreted by people from non-medical backgrounds.
- Stress
It is usual for them to work for extended periods. There is already a shortage of nurses, and it got proven during the Corona period. So, during critical situations, the nurses experience a lot of workloads. If the patients and the families do not get serviced well, the nurses might face their aggression while under stress. The nurses and the doctors have the chance of violence from others.
- Confidentiality And Integrity
They do access the sensitive data related to the patients, their treatments, and other records of the healthcare center, but they must know how to maintain strict confidentiality. They must also follow some unsaid rules regarding the integrity of the healthcare center and the patients. Their actions may lead someone towards death. Thus, they must possess ethics during their work.
Tips To Overcome The weaknesses
It is better to invest some time to work on the weaknesses instead of wasting time during the job hours.
The following are the tips to overcome the weaknesses of nursing:
- Self-Care
The nurses can choose the job and shift according to their comfort if the healthcare center allows them to do so. It helps to maintain the work-life balance. Heavy lifting is a part of the work of the nurses. So, they might ask others for help. Since they are on their foot for most of the time, they must choose comfortable footwear. They must take small breaks after regular intervals to stay hydrated because their healths may affect their work. Similarly, they must maintain personal and public hygiene to keep the diseases away and feel fresh.
- Staying Updated With The Technology
They must keep on learning how to handle the latest medical machines and instruments even irrespective of the job role because emergencies may arrive at any time. They might undergo formal training if they have time or ask their peers to teach them during their free time.
- Accepting The Surprises
The workers in this profession tend to come across various surprises in their daily routine. The nurses must accept that everything will not go according to their plans. This acceptance helps them to stay calm during emergencies.
- Working On The Communication Skills
Since the nurses must advise the patients, support the patient’s family members with a positive attitude, and communicate patient concerns to the doctors efficiently, they must polish their communication skills regularly.
Conclusion
In the nursing profession, the workers must analyze their strengths and weaknesses and learn from them. While mentioning their strengths, during the interview, they must look confident but not arrogant. But, they must show their willingness to learn and ensure that their strengths are according to the job description. Similarly, they must mention their weaknesses but not curse themselves. They must be honest and explain how they are trying to conquer weaknesses related to the profession.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What Are Some Job Titles Similar To The Nursing Profession?
Answer:
Health technician, Medical assistant, Medical transcriptionist, Health and safety instructor, Paramedic, and Caregiver are some of the job titles similar to the nursing profession.
- What is the salary range for the workers in nursing?
Answer:
The mean salary for the workers in nursing lies between $38,000 and $190,000.
- Where do the nursing professionals work?
Answer:
Some areas where the nursing professionals may work are vaccination (and research) centers, hospitals, health visits, clinics, schools, forensic labs, NGOs, telemedicine, training centers provided by the universities, paramedics, health programs, and informatics.
