You aspired for this. You have toiled hard. You have spent late nights studying. You have sacrificed a lot just to be where you are now. But despite these efforts, how do you know if this profession really is for you? Are you really fit to become a nurse?

You have a great amount of patience

Being a nurse, your patience gets to be tested numerous times. You get to encounter uncooperative patients, overly-demanding folks, grumpy doctors and many others. In order to stay in this profession, you need to be patient, and when I say patient, I mean really reallyreally patient plus understanding. Learn to know where they are coming from, what led them to act that way and try to understand it. Be patient enough to see perform your numerous tasks, patient enough to not give up on your patient, on the profession you’ve worked so hard for.

You are determined

Nursing isn’t for the weak. The road to becoming a nurse isn’t at all easy. There are tons of encounters that would leave a weak-willed person to run for the hills. You need to be able to be brave enough to face the challenges in this profession and be determined enough to succeed.

You are accepting and caring.

Nurses “care”. You, as a nurse must be accepting and not discriminating. You must learn to respect the rights of others, despite their age, gender, social status, sexual orientations and beliefs. Nurses must demonstrate equal and unbiased compassion for all.

You are responsible.

Unlike other professions that deal with paperwork, you as a nurse are dealing with real lives. One little mistake and you might put your patient’s life at risk. You must be responsible enough to know that every action of yours can effect to something, may it be big or small. Being an RN, you must assume legal and ethical accountability for your actions. Also, you must respect confidentiality, use good judgment, and be loyal to patients and to the profession.

You are open to change

You must be open to whatever comes your way. As a nurse, you must be flexible and know how to act appropriately in a specific situation. You must adapt to the situation as not everything happens as exactly as what has been expected. For example, you must know how to modify patient treatment plans as indicated by patients’ responses and conditions.

You work well with others

As the saying goes, “no man is an island”. You are not alone in this profession. In order to provide quality and effective care, you must learn how to collaborate with others, may it be your co-nurses, the doctors, radiologists and other members of the healthcare team. Each of you has their own functions, their own duties, and together you complement one another.

You are eager to learn

Learning does not just end upon receiving your college diploma. As what many say, learning is a lifelong process, and in nursing you get to experience that. There will always be something you don’t know about, something to read, tons to learn. In order to cope with the growing and evolving demands in healthcare one must be motivated enough to participate in continuing education programs, research groups, seminars and the like. If you hunger for knowledge, then this might seem like heaven to you, but if you are hesitant to explore new things, then this might not be the profession for you.