Self-Improvement: The Ultimate Guide

Self-improvement is synonymous with personal development, and it is an essential process for professionals and human beings in general. Nurses have a personal responsibility to continually develop their professional and personal skills to offer better services to patients. Many nursing theories stress the importance of ongoing training or lifelong learning for nurses. Nursing theories also stress that nurses play a bigger role in the patient recovery process. Only nurses with the right professional and personal skills can meet all their patients’ needs. 

Nurses should commit to individual growth. Self-improvement is not only beneficial to the individual nurse, but it also helps one achieve professional goals. Organizations tend to give more responsibilities to individuals who demonstrate the desired competencies or characteristics. These individuals are seen as capable of bringing organizational change. Here are the five positive and negative traits that nurses can improve upon in a professional setting: 

Positive traits 

Empathy 

The hospital is a traumatizing environment for patients. Patients worry about their health when they get out of the hospital, hospital bills, and other issues. Nurses should help patients with their worries through empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings of the other person (Percy & Richardson, 2018). Nurses should put themselves in their patients’ shoes to understand their worries, pain, and fears.  

Empathetic nurses create better patient experiences. Empathy plays a crucial role in the nurse-patient relationship, and it creates a sense of confidence among patients that they are receiving the best and compassionate care. When nurses express empathy, they create trust, ease anxiety, and improve patient outcomes (Percy & Richardson, 2018). Empathetic care is associated with better adherence to medication, reduced malpractice cases, and increased patient satisfaction.  

Organizational skills 

Organizational skills are essential for the provision of excellent patient care. Nurses work in a fast-paced environment, and they must sharpen their organizational skills to meet the demands. Nursing organizational skills vary according to the workplace and the specialty. A crucial organizational skill is prioritizing. Nurses cannot achieve everything they are expected to do during a shift by creating a list of priorities. Some priorities are competing, and one should plan in advance on how to accomplish both tasks. Nurses can delegate or rely on their colleagues to meet certain responsibilities. Organizational skills are essential for nurses as this gives them time to complete their duties and go the extra mile to help their patients.  

Problem-Solving skills 

This is a crucial skill for nurses. Patients rely on nurses to solve their problems, from dressing wounds, administering medications to their physical and safety needs while they are in the hospital. Aside from the actual health problems, there are risks for complications such as the patient’s situation worsening or failure to comply with the treatment plan.  

Nurses act as problem solvers by addressing issues as they arise and helping patients navigate them. Effective problem-solving skills demand that nurses quickly assess all the possible options before deciding on the best solution. Nurses should be able to think quickly on their feet as they make life and death decisions (Percy & Richardson, 2018). They apply their knowledge, expertise, and experience to make judgment calls and solve problems.  

Adaptability 

This is another positive trait for nurses. When nurses go to work, they have no idea what will happen and how their days will be. Some days are more challenging than others, and nurses have to help many patients, while some days are slow. Nurses have to be flexible and ready for all eventually. They should be prepared for anything and be ready to act fast when needed; this is very common for ER nurses.  

Good communication 

Good communication is essential for nurses. Nurses are the support system for patients, and they cannot afford not to engage with patients well. They should take time to interact and get to know patients as they make their rounds so that patients are comfortable (Tuohy, 2019). Communication involves the ability to speak, listen, and write. Nurses must possess the skills to communicate clearly and confidently. Good communication reassures and creates positive interactions between nurses and patients.  

Negative Traits 

Poor time management 

Nurses have a lot on their hands, and they frequently deal with a heavy workload. Patients often complain that they are not getting enough help and attention from the nurses, which is often attributed to poor time management. Failure to prioritize, procrastinate, and underestimate the time needed to complete tasks are some of the causes of poor time management (Tuohy, 2019). Nurses can easily get distracted by interruptions in the work environment, which affects their ability to prioritize and finish tasks on time.  

Resistance to learn 

The nursing and healthcare sectors, in general, are constantly changing. New treatments, medications, and procedures are adopted regularly, and nurses must keep up with the changes. Reluctance to learn or implement change is one of the negative traits observed in nurses. Like most professionals, nurses are not open to change if it means adopting new ways of doing things, and in the end, patients are the ones who suffer.  

Lack of compassion 

The worst trait for a nurse is uncaring. The role of nurses is to care for patients, and when they have an indifferent and uncaring attitude, they are failing their role. Nurses have the responsibility of making patients feel good and cared for, and when they ignore this role, patients feel like they are on their own, and they have nobody to rely on (Percy & Richardson, 2018). Sick patients do not just require medication; they require physical, emotional, and psycho-social support. Nurses who lack compassion do the bare minimum, and they do not even do it well as they are not invested in the patient’s wellbeing.  

Bad attitude 

There are many instances where patients have complained of bad attitudes among nurses. Sometimes nurses address patients with frustration or rudeness, rather than listening to patients. Nurses with bad attitudes rarely smile or take time to interact with patients. When patients ask questions, they reply rudely with negative remarks or ignore patients. Nurses with bad attitudes not only cause problems with their patients but also cause problems with their colleagues. They do not listen to advice from colleagues, and they are not team players.  

Laziness 

Laziness among nurses is a real problem that affects patients and other nurses. Lazy nurses are always on their phones, or they keep disappearing after a few hours, leaving other nurses to cover for them. Patients cannot reach these kinds of nurses, and worse, they do not fulfill their responsibilities to patients on time or completely. Lazy nurses are not good team players. They are always busy with everything else apart from work, and they distract other employees. Lazy nurses frustrate patients and their team members because they do not finish what they are supposed to do during their shifts. 

Nurse leadership theory 

Different nurse leadership theories inform nurse leaders. Xu (2017) defines leadership as influencing others to understand and agree on what needs to be done. Leaders play a crucial role in an organization, and they are responsible for implementing changes. The five positive and five negative traits can improve patient and organizational outcomes. Adopting these traits requires a change process that only leaders can implement to be an organizational-wide change process.  

Different leadership theories posit that leaders play various roles in an organization. A leadership theory that is synonymous with change is transformational leadership theory. James McGregor Burns introduced transformational leadership in 1978 to refer to mutual help between leaders and subordinates that boost motivation and enthusiasm (Fischer, 2016). Transformational leadership motivates employees to work towards achieving higher-level needs, including self-esteem and self-actualization. Consequently, employees will derive meaning from their work and work towards attaining the organizational objectives.   

According to Xu (2017), there has been a paradigm shift in what leadership is. Leaders are individuals who make a profound change in an organization and employees’ lives. Modern leaders no longer emphasize control and obedience; rather, they develop the right organizational culture that motivates employees to be successful. Two of the tenets of transformational leadership are idealized influence and inspirational motivation. The components of this leadership style will enable nurse leaders to enforce the five positive characteristics and eliminate the five negative characteristics affecting nurses.  

One of the positive characteristics is empathy, which is a crucial trait for nurses. Nurse leaders can create a caring environment by going out of their way to show empathy to nurses and patients. The transformational principle of idealized influence states that leaders set high standards and act as role models in a professional environment. Leaders cannot expect nurses to go out of their ways to help patients and others when they do not do the same. Leaders must walk-the-talk to gain the trust and respect of the staff. The other positive characteristic is organizational skills. Leaders can also play a role in creating a highly organized team by educating them on the importance of organization and providing them with the right tools and assistance (Fischer, 2016). The hospital environment is fast-paced, and it might take some time for some nurses to catch up. Leaders step in by helping them be more organized or pairing them with other highly organized nurses to help them catch up.  

The five positive characteristics can be reinforced, and the negative characteristics eliminated through transformational leadership. The concepts of intellectual stimulation and individual consideration will play a big role in the change process. Intellectual stimulation occurs when leaders challenge employees to develop creative and innovative solutions and continually grow. Nurses work in a highly dynamic environment, and there are many opportunities to be creative and engage in problem-solving. Nurse leaders can encourage problem-solving through guidance, giving employees a chance to solve problems and feedback (Steaban, 2016). A transformational leader will work with employees to incorporate evidence-based findings to improve patient care. Leaders who value intellectual stimulation will encourage employees to voice their opinion on how to implement the five positive characteristics. When employees contribute to the change process, they will be more invested in implementing the changes.  

Lastly, the transformational principle of individualized consideration refers to the leader’s commitment to coaching and mentoring. This principle is crucial for eliminating the five negative characteristics that are common among nurses. Nurse leaders must be committed to coaching, mentoring, and helping the employees overcome the problems they struggle with. Challenges such as poor time management, resistance to learning, laziness, and lack of compassion are some of the negative traits. Leaders must practice individualized consideration to help employees address some of the specific negative traits they struggle with (Fischer, 2016). Individualized consideration shows that the leader has a relationship with each employee and takes time to nurture them based on their strengths and weaknesses.  

In implementing change, nurse leaders rely on change theories to guide the change process. Change theories are made up of the best practices to ensure a successful change process. Kurt Lewin’s change theory is a popular one that is applied when implementing organizational change. The three-stage model is made up of an unfreezing-change-refreeze model.  

This theory is simple, and it is the right model for maximizing the benefits of the five positive traits and improving on the negative characteristics. The first step of the model is the unfreezing stage, which involves identifying the problems that are hindering growth (Steaban, 2016). The goal of this stage is to bring awareness to issues that need change. The five negative characteristics of poor time management, lack of compassion, laziness, bad attitude, and resistance to learning have been identified as the problematic areas that need to change. The unfreezing is about the identification of the negative attributes and communicating the need for change among employees. Leaders must communicate the need for better time management, compassionate care, and willingness to change and how they will benefit nurses and patients. The unfreezing stage motivates the team to accept change.  

The changing stage is the second step in Lewin’s model. The organization transition into a new state by adopting the five positive traits and addressing the negative traits. The changing step is also known as the transitioning stage, as it involves the implementation of the positive traits of good communication, organizational skills, compassionate care, and adaptability. In this stage, nurse leaders will help nurses learn new behaviors, processes, and ways of thinking associated with the five positive traits. For example, all nurses can implement SBAR (situational, background, assessment, and recommendation) strategy when communicating with patients. The new framework for communicating with patients addresses all patient concerns.  

The second stage of the change model is the most challenging step as it involves implementing the five positive changes. Nurse leaders can maximize positive traits through education, communication, and support during the implementation (Steaban, 2016). Teaching employees organizational skills is not enough; leaders must demonstrate how they organize their time to achieve their daily targets by the end of the day. Nurse leaders will demonstrate all the five positive traits to encourage other nurses to implement them. The leaders will use the four principles of transformational leadership to maximize the adoption of the five positive characteristics.  

Evaluation is a crucial change process. Measuring transformational change is hard as it does not involve measurable variables. It is hard to evaluate whether nurses are engaging in compassionate care or not. There are some evaluation approaches that the organization can use to evaluate the five positive traits’ implementation. The first strategy is measuring what has changed. Nurses offer their services to patients, and patients are in a better position to evaluate whether there are positive changes. The organization will rely on the patient satisfaction survey before and after the change process.  

The second evaluation strategy is evaluating the change process itself. Many organizations have failed to implement change because of poor vision, implementation challenges, or lack of employee buy-in. When the change process is implemented according to plan, it is a good sign that the change transformation is working. The third component of the evaluation measures behavior. When the change is executed according to plan, there will be positive changes in behavior and thinking (Steaban, 2016). The team will work cohesively to deliver compassionate and timely care. Measuring behavior is a challenge, but the performance and employee dynamics will tell whether there is a positive change in behavior.  

In conclusion, identifying the positive and negative attributes will assist in assessing the behaviors of colleagues at work. The list contains both positive and negative attributes that are common in the workplace. Employees have their unique strengths and weaknesses, as seen in the list, but it does not mean that they cannot change. This process shows that employees should engage in a personal inventory, and sometimes assess the characteristics of their colleagues, to adopt positive characteristics and address the negative characteristics that continue to bring the team down.  

References 

Fischer, S. A. (2016). Transformational leadership in nursing: a concept analysis.  Journal of advanced nursing ,  72 (11), 2644-2653. 

Percy, M., & Richardson, C. (2018). Introducing nursing practice to student nurses: How can we promote care compassion and empathy?  Nurse Education in Practice ,  29 , 200-205. 

Steaban, R. L. (2016). Health care reform, care coordination, and transformational leadership.  Nursing administration quarterly ,  40 (2), 153-163. 

Tuohy, D. (2019). Effective intercultural communication in nursing.  Nursing Standard ,  34 (2). 

Xu, J. H. (2017). Leadership theory in clinical practice.  Chinese Nursing Research ,  4 (4), 155- 157.