Professional And Discipline Studies In Assessment Answer

Characteristics of a professional nurse:
In my opinion a professional nurse should demonstrate the following characteristics:
•    Effective communication skills- A professional nurse should possess high communication skills due to the degree of interaction required in the profession.
•    Empathetic approach- Empathy is perhaps one of the most vital characteristics of a nurse. Patients and their families should always be approached with empathy.
•    Emotional stability- Nursing profession consists of several instances where a nurse should remain emotionally strong and stable so that there is no error in the services offered to the patients.
•    Attention to detail- A nurse should always be attentive to details while serving the clients. Details such as observing and tracking the various health conditions and vital signs of the patients, administering prescribed medications on time in right quantity, etc. are to be ensured in this profession.
•    Good interpersonal skills- Interpersonal skills are important as the nurses need to be in contact with the doctors, patients, other nurses and various staffs from the healthcare unit.
•    Flexibility in actions- Having the mind to accept flexibility in shift timings, working hours and working days, is one of the key qualities that a nurse needs to possess.
•    Effective problem-solving skills- Nurses need to be extremely intelligent and smart in problem-solving that might be required during various stages of the profession.
•    Respect for clients- One of the most important qualities of a nurse is to have enough respect for the patients and their family members. They should be respectful of their own profession also (Anonson et al., 2013).
•    Prompt response to need- Healthcare service delivery is based on the ability to take prompt decisions and quick responses to situations. Hence, having the emotional intelligence to offer immediate response is a pre-requisite in this profession.
•    Physical endurance- The nursing profession is one that requires a lot of physical and emotional stress in offering the high quality of services to the patients. Hence, they must have physical endurance to cope up and therefore, they should maintain a strict health regime (Nunnari, 2012).
Professional behaviour in nursing:
The profession of nursing envisages demonstration of professionalism at par with the Code of Ethics for Nurses. The code encompasses the following criteria in defining professional approach in nursing:
•    Nurses should value the quality of nursing care that is accessible to the entire population.
•    Nurses must demonstrate respect and kindness in their approach with others and also for themselves.
•    Nurses should value the diversity in population.
•    Nurses should offer adequate importance to informed decision-making.
•    Nurses should value the safety culture in the healthcare profession.
•    Nurses should offer adequate importance to ethical information management.
•    Nurses should value the environment that is sustainable from the perspectives of social, economic and ecological factors in promoting the healthcare and wellbeing services (Australian College of Nursing, 2008).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that the nursing profession requires an impeccable approach towards offering the most ethical and benevolent services to the patients and their family members. A successful nurse should bear the basic traits of a professional and should demonstrate strict adherence to the nursing code of ethics in order to be counted as one of the growing and developing professionals in the domain of healthcare. I personally, believe that in order to become a successful nurse in the years to come I need to imbibe all those qualities within me during my tenure as a nursing student so that I can put all the skills and qualities in practice after I have become a registered nurse in my career.

References

Anonson, J., Walker, M.E., Arries, E., Maposa, S., Telford, P. and Berry, L. (2013) 'Qualities of exemplary nurse leaders: perspectives of frontline nurses', Journal of Nursing Management Volume 22, Issue 1, p. n.a.
Australian College of Nursing (2008) 'Code of Ethics for Nurses', Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia, pp. 1-11.
Elmbrook (2015) What makes a good professional?, [Online], Available: http://www.elmbrookcenter.org/our-philosophy/qualities-of-a-good-professional/.
Nunnari, W. (2012) Our top 10 great attributes of a nurse., [Online], Available: http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/119857/Our-top-10-great-attributes-of-a-nurse.