Nurses are responsible for monitoring the vitals of their patients and administering medications. If they are an advanced practice nurse, they also diagnose illnesses. In order to perform these tasks effectively, a good nurse must be responsible and detailed oriented. The wrong number written on a piece of paper or an out-of-place decimal point can lead to life or death situations in a health care environment.
Nurses are the faces of most health care organizations, and when a patient reviews their experience, they usually rate it based on how they felt about their nurse. As they deal with ill people, nurses need to be compassionate and sympathetic. They also need to be emotionally stable as their working environment is often intense and full of chaos.
Nurses act as a liaison between the patient and the rest of the health care team, which means they need to have strong communication skills. When patients describe their symptoms to their nurses, the nurses need to be able to understand their message and communicate the health care team's concerns in response.