5 SOFT SKILLS EMPLOYERS SEEK IN NURSE PRACTITIONERS
You’ve made it! You’re a board-certified nurse practitioner (NP). Your hard work finally paid off, and it’s time to level up and prepare for an interview with your next employer. Soft skills differentiate NPs from the rest of the medical team, so it’s good to have some insight into what employers are looking for. Let’s get into it.
1. Communication Skills
Patients and healthcare professionals rely on nurse practitioners for their effective communication skills. Years of experience in patient education will work in your favor. Employers are looking for NPs skilled in breaking down disease processes for patients in distress and anticipating any questions the patient may have about their plan of care. Communicating with patients is no longer restricted to the bedside or exam room. Expect to transfer your excellent communication skills to the soft skill of instant messaging.
Discerning when and how to communicate concerns or changes with the medical team regarding a patient’s care plan is an essential soft skill. It’s no longer necessary to contact the physician or resident for permission before placing orders, such as lab tests, imaging studies, or treatments. Nurse practitioners have greater autonomy than bedside nurses, which may take some getting used to. The medical team will more than likely set aside specific blocks of time throughout the day to discuss patients, considering the recommendations of each individual on the team.
2. Critical Thinking
Every medical team values a nurse practitioner with excellent critical thinking skills. Employers look for NPs skilled in prioritizing patient acuity. Ideally, NPs can assist the medical team by ordering the patient’s essential care to help offload the provider’s workload so they can focus on critically ill patients’ needs. The ability to anticipate the workflow and needs of the medical team is a vital soft skill for an NP and an appreciated asset.
Something else to consider is that nurses will feel more comfortable coming to you than the doctor for immediate patient needs. When a nurse is worried about their patient’s acuity status, you’ll likely be the first provider to respond. Nurse practitioners are still on the front lines, but now they’re making the decisions. Critical thinking skills are crucial and are often used to assist in saving patients’ lives by knowing what orders to place and when.
3. Empathy and Compassion
If nurse practitioners had superpowers, they’d be empathy and compassion, and as a result, these NP soft skills are highly sought after to improve patient satisfaction. NPs wear many hats and can put themselves in others’ shoes. There will be different and unique patient scenarios you may have never experienced that require empathy and compassion when educating patients and families.
For instance, family members insist on prolonging an elderly patient’s life to secure benefits or fulfill the terms of a future inheritance. You can tell from your clinical judgment that the patient is suffering. At the same time, while you may believe their actions are unethical, the family members are still grieving the possible loss of their loved one.
Employers seek nurse practitioners skilled in conflict resolution and equipped to navigate their patients’ and families’ emotional highs and lows. The patient could be one conversation away from accepting or rejecting a treatment that could change the trajectory of their disease process. NPs have the skills and authority to help with critical decision-making and return autonomy to the patient.
4. Teamwork
Excellent patient care is a direct result of teamwork. Employers seek nurse practitioners who are approachable, proactive, and professional.
No matter the size of the medical team or ancillary staff, employees must feel comfortable approaching you with important clinical information, such as critical lab results, vital signs, or changes in patient status. Belittling employees or speaking harshly to nurses will only impede patient care. Nurse practitioners skilled in delegating in a nonthreatening manner will build team morale and keep their patients safe.
Nurse practitioners should take initiative by offering and asking for help. As an NP, your skills will be in high demand by ancillary staff, nurses, residents, and physicians. However, you also need employees you can turn to for help to prevent burnout, especially with time-consuming tasks. For example, charting as an NP is no joke, and you may need to delegate the following:
- Analyzing diagnostic data
- Placing necessary orders
- Reviewing clinical documentation
- Responding to patient messages
Teamwork is essential to complete administrative work. If you weren’t great at delegating tasks as a nurse, this is a critical soft skill to master as an NP. Otherwise, your work will never end.
5. Adaptability
Transitioning from nurse to nurse practitioner will be quite the adjustment. You’ll have new authority and accountability that may initially seem scary and intimidating. Your relationships with former nurse employees will change, and you may have to draw boundaries. Building relationships with the medical team and boldly asking questions will help you adapt to your new role.
Give yourself some grace and practice self-care to combat compassion fatigue. NPs work in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment. One minute, you may be consoling a patient who has learned of their new terminal illness, and the next minute, you may be the only one on the unit who can run a code blue. Adapting to this new authority is an NP soft skill that will take time. These changes can be overwhelming, and protecting yourself with a strong support system and healthy lifestyle will give you the stamina to succeed.
Congratulations on stepping into this new role as a nurse practitioner! It’s an exciting time with so much opportunity for growth. Nurse practitioners are one of the fastest-growing healthcare professions in the United States and are projected to grow another 45 percent by 2032. This growth should give you confidence in knowing you’ve made the right decision, and these five NP soft skills will help you take your career to the next level. Check out the Health eCareers job board for various NP positions and specialties nationwide.
Author Bio
Tara Nadia Roscoe, RN, ADN, is a registered, freelance nurse writer and the owner of Roscoejourney.com. She started in healthcare as a pharmacy technician, followed by a nursing assistant, and has been an RN since 2017. She has worked in orthopedics, med/surg, telemetry, intermediate care, the NICU, and is currently in utilization management review. She loves being a nurse and teaching complex healthcare concepts. Her husband and twin daughters are her motivation for writing.
2024-09-17T14:23:41Z dg43tfdfdgfd