Nursing is a challenging profession. Every nurse today aims to provide quality patient care after years of education, experience, and mentorship.
But nursing is a very diverse field of medicine because every area offers a wide variety of professional development and growth opportunities. Nurses can do many things, from continuing education to research projects, visiting hospitals, or hosting panel discussions.
Nurses are expected to be extremely competent clinicians; simultaneously, they must be flexible and adaptive in their approach to care. As a nurse, if you’re wondering how to improve your work performance, you’re at the right place.
To enhance work performance, nurses should always strive for continuous improvement. The key to this process is organizing a strong assessment plan that allows you to find and address your strengths and weaknesses. To ensure you perform at your best, there are several things that you can do to improve your work performance as a nurse.
1. Continue Learning
It is easy to forget during busy work schedules that there are always newer things to learn in nursing. Reading every book or taking courses at school is challenging, but you can find resources and degrees online to expand your knowledge. Different degrees and nursing resources will help you focus on subjects you are lacking or areas that are developing faster to keep yourself up to date.
This will help you stay up-to-date on current events within the nursing field, helping you prepare for future challenges at work.
In this technological era, distance learning allows you to gain experience at your convenience. So, if there is any diploma or short course that you think might improve your professional knowledge, never stop yourself from getting it.
Registered nurses (RNs) can opt for an RN to BSN online program to attain career growth and professional expertise. These programs usually take 12-24 months. Moreover, earning a BSN can lead to ample job opportunities and higher income.
2. Know Your Limits
As a nurse, knowing how much work you can do is important. This enables you to determine whether any specific tasks need to be completed before moving on to another part.
Most nurses don’t realize that excessive workload can lead to burnout, poor work performance, and increased patient mortality rates because of suboptimal care provided by nurses. Therefore, nurses must know their limits and others around them to ensure that they are all working at peak efficiency levels while still providing the best service possible.
3. Make Communication a Priority
Communication is a two-way street. Nurses must make communication a skill they take pride in using daily. This includes:
- Listening skills – Hearing what your patient says without interrupting or adding too much information of your own.
- Nonverbal communication – Using facial expressions and gestures while you speak so that the patient can tell whether you are listening intently or not.
When it comes to communication, there are many ways for a nurse to respect the patient. You must always be aware of your body language and tone when speaking with patients to ensure effective communication.
Moreover, nurses should work on being polite by using a supportive, friendly, and caring tone of voice.
4. Develop Good Clinical Skills
Nurses must develop and enhance their clinical skills to effectively meet the needs of patients, staff, and other team members.
You can improve clinical skills such as patient care or medication administration through education programs such as continuing education units (CEUs) or professional development courses offered by organizations like AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association).
Good clinical skills will always help you get ahead, especially when dealing with inconvenient situations or unexpected obstacles during work.
5. Take Time for Yourself
Being a nurse is a 24/7 job, and it is easy to get caught up in the daily grind of your job. However, if you want to improve your work performance, ensure you have time for yourself.
- Do something you enjoy – The best way to relax is by doing something that brings joy into your life. Find something new each day or try something different from usual. Doing this will help you to relax both physically and mentally.
- Take breaks during the day – Having lunch breaks every two hours is good practice because it gives workers some time off their feet.
So, take time for yourself now and again because being happy helps you make better decisions which could lead to success later down the road.
6. Join Committees and Clubs
Your workplace can be a suitable place to get involved in activities outside of work. You will learn from other people and yourself and your mistakes, which will help you improve as an employee.
Join committees and clubs so that others are willing to share ideas on handling complex situations and learn from experience from those within their respective fields of expertise.
7. Enhance Critical Thinking
Critical thinking involves asking questions, making connections, and evaluating evidence. It is a skill that can be practised and improved through practice. You can learn it by doing things like:
- Reflecting on how you make decisions
- Finding the assumptions behind your reasoning
- Analyzing data from experimental studies
- Comparing alternative explanations for the evidence
- Analyzing arguments based on logic
Nurses must enhance their critical thinking and reasoning abilities to keep up with technological advancements in medicine.
Final Thoughts
Nursing is among the world’s toughest and most respected professions, which also guarantees exceptional growth opportunities.
However, to excel in any field, it is crucial to perform better at work. Nurses have a challenging job routine that requires adequate concentration skills to deal with their patients efficiently. With better coordination, guidance, and advanced learning, nurses can ease every obstacle that comes their way.
