The Nursing Competencies That Have the Most Direct Impact on How Patients Heal
Most people understand that nurses carry significant clinical expertise. They have a broad general knowledge about many different kinds of health issues and are generally trained specifically so that their skills can translate to a wide range of different medical scenarios.
That's arguably the hardest part of nursing training and the most standardized element. If someone is a licensed RN, it means they've gotten their BSN and passed the NCLEX. In other words, they've proven their clinical competency as thoroughly as the system currently allows for. That's good, but it doesn't necessarily cover all the bases.
In this article, we'll take a look at core competencies that drive patient outcomes.
Critical Thinking
One of the biggest differences between learning how to be a nurse and actually being one is that all of the decisions that need to be made unfold at the speed of life.
When a patient comes in having just experienced a significant accident or a major health event, they can't wait for a nurse to look up the symptoms in a textbook or deliberate for a lengthy period of time on what the most effective immediate triage response is. Critical thinking in the healthcare environment is fast-paced and very high-pressure.
Nurses in training learn how to perform at this high level by getting lots of clinical reps in. However, even with all of that hands-on experience, there is still a learning curve.
For the most part, new hires generally have a higher level of supervision and possibly even mentorship relationships that take some of the pressure off.
Nevertheless, it's still a difficult part of adjusting to the realities of professional life. Mostly, it's a matter of getting in enough reps and developing confidence. Still, these things can be difficult to teach, and in the meantime, the process of learning job-ready critical thinking skills can be very stressful.
Communication
Communication is another abstract aspect of the healthcare process, particularly because it will take very different shapes depending on the person you're working with.
Really, the job of a nurse, from a communications perspective, is to present information in a way that is comprehensible and actionable for the person receiving it. That's often easier said than done.
If you've ever been in the hospital, you've probably had conversations that might as well have been in French with doctors. In many cases, after the doctor leaves, usually within two to three minutes of having entered the room in the first place, the nurse will come in and explain what they've said. That's a real skill and one that is inestimably valuable to the patient. It's how they develop ownership of what's happening to them and understand the treatments that they have to go through.
It's also a lot harder than many people realize. There's an old saying that if you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it at all. That's not really true. Explaining complex topics to a generalized audience is a genuinely valuable and difficult skill. It's made harder by the fact that the right way to explain something to one person could be very different than the right way to explain it to another.
Nurses slowly develop a sense of how to communicate complicated medical concepts to their patients. It takes time to develop this skill, but it's an enormously important one.
Empathy
The value of empathy in the healthcare setting is at once obvious and also elusive. It doesn't fall neatly into any aspect of care protocol, and yet it should be incorporated into everything that a nurse does.
Really talented and experienced nurses don't necessarily make their patients feel constantly sorry for themselves.
Rather, they present as an ally who understands their hardship and willing to be an emotional resource as well as a clinical one where needed. This balance can be tricky, but it's often a byproduct of some of the skills we've already described up until this point.
Communication is particularly important. Nurses wanting to provide the sort of empathy that will make a patient feel at once more optimistic about their diagnosis and more cared for can earn a lot of credit simply by listening actively. That means paying very close attention to what the person is saying on the one hand and making sure they understand they're being heard on the other.
Making eye contact, repeating things they've said back to them, and asking follow-up questions are great ways to make a person feel like they're being seen as an individual.
This is very impactful for patient outcomes because studies consistently show that the more confident a person feels in the care they're receiving, the more likely it is that they'll recover. It's often nurses who build the trust that allows that confidence to develop.
Can These Skills Be Learned?
We've already described in the introduction how the clinical aspect of nursing is paradoxically the easiest and hardest part of the job to learn. It's easy in that the steps that you take to get there are straightforward. Memorize and understand the core material, go through your clinical rotations, and pass the NCLEX. The path is standardized and straightforward. It is challenging, obviously, not everyone can do it, but the steps are clear and numbered.
Developing good communication skills, clear empathy, or faster and more efficient critical thinking can all be difficult and abstract abilities to develop. Nevertheless, the play core roles in the holistic side of patient care.
If you're a nurse or aspiring nurse worried about maximizing the effect of your softer skills, there are steps you can take.
Even the fact that you're thinking about it at all is a good first step. Just putting a little extra effort into how you talk to patients can go a long way toward sharpening your communication and empathy skills.
Remember, first and foremost, that becoming a better nurse is an iterative process. You're not going to show up on day one knowing how to do everything well, but if you focus on progress, you will get there eventually.