4 bad habits nurses should avoid in any medical practice

Do you know about bad habits nurses might be doing on a daily basis? Nurses are vital in any medical practice. They provide over 90% of healthcare in the world and play a very important role in the everyday medical field. Therefore, if you are a nurse there are a lot of bad habits you will need to avoid when working in medical practices, especially If you want to be a great nurse and make the most of your time at work.

We often think we have enough experience and we probably act too comfortable in what we do in our work. In the long run, we develop habits that can be harmful and we are not aware of them or do little to correct them. And the worst part is that we fail to reach our full potential.

Our habits, good and bad, play a fundamental role in defining who we are and usually help others to perceive our character. Therefore, it is not surprising that practicing and applying good habits can greatly influence the success of your nurse career.

Here we have some of the bad work habits that diminish the possibilities to advance in your career, and how can you change them in the long term.

1. Being late for work

Do you think the delay has a good effect on your work? Does being late make you the most valuable employee if your colleagues wait for you to start working? Definitely not! If you are the type of nurse who is always late, you are likely to have long-term problems. 

Problem: The basic problem with this habit is that you waste a lot of your colleagues’ time. They started their day well and having to cover your absence until you arrive might cost them some trouble. These can be seen as disrespect or incompetence. So try to be on time, always.

Solution: It is important that what you do, not compromise your work time. People are late because they are not honest with themselves about how long it really takes them to do things. So if you really want to arrive on time, forget all the excuses and be honest when making adjustments to your time. Calculate all the possible unforeseen events that you might encounter such as traffic. 

2. Avoid work

You have been hired because they found in you something valuable for the organization. You are very proactive in the first few weeks. But after a while, you find yourself constantly hesitating to take on new things just because you think someone else can do it and is not your problem.

Problem: There is no doubt that there is always someone more skilled to handle a job, but don’t get confused; delegating work or avoiding it are two different things. Delegating means assigning different tasks to the right people while avoiding means that you are not responsible enough to do the job. The more tasks you avoid the more incompetent you could become, and the worse is that you become negligent.

Solution: To overcome this bad habit, you do not need to become a “Yes” person. You just need to be more proactive and being in charge of the task that has been assigned to you. Remember, your willingness to be present and be helpful is positively reflected in you and your work as a nurse.

3. Be careless, and disorganized

Are you constantly struggling with remembering where you put stuff or you don’t even remember if certain patients have been examined yet? You need to get organized!

Problem: Busy days at hospitals can be overwhelming, but if you have: Illegible writing, spelling errors, messy records, and disorganized worksheets, you can make the job for yourself and your colleagues even harder. This will confuse the understanding of what happened to a patient and will make medical treatment even longer.

Solution: As professional nurses, you should be precise, decisive and specific in everything you do. Patients trust you so much that they are willing to submit to your care. Being careless can lead to being messy and disorganized. A nurse practitioner needs to have a balanced state of mind that is represented in being organized at work.

4. Prioritize personal concerns before work

The first thing you do when you get to work is to check Facebook, Twitter or Instagram? And you also do it before and after seeing patients and keeping track of their health?. If you answered yes, then you might be spending too much of your work time in social media

Problem: Being curious about what’s going on in your social media is not a problem, but spend every second checking your Instagram it is so. Social networks can not only make you lose a lot of time at work, but they can also decrease your productivity and this can have a direct impact on patient quality care.

Solution: You must maintain a balance between work and social networks. Work is work and social life should not be part of it. If there really is a need to check messages and emails during work hours, it is better if you do so during breaks. 

The more you try to overcome these bad habits if you have them, the better the chances of performing better at work. The care you provide to the patients will be of better quality, and at the end of the day, your personal growth as a nurse will fill you with satisfaction, encouraging you to work with more dedication and professionalism.

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Sources: https://engage.healthynursehealthynation.org/blogs