Professional Development & SMART Nursing Goals
Some common nursing goals include: The more you focus on self-development during your nursing career, the more money you could make. Nursing goals for improving communication Nursing is a personal, hands-on career, and it is important that you are constantly honing your ability to empathize and communicate, whether with your patients and their families or your colleagues. Being mindful of the way that you express yourself to each of these different groups is a good way to start, and you can strengthen both your skills and your earning capacity through a variety of exercises and additional coursework. Whether you just want to improve the way that you engage with those around you or are hoping to leverage improved communication skills into extra money through a nursing side hustle like writing blogs or providing expert witness testimony, polishing your spoken and written abilities is a worthwhile goal. Writing well and speaking clearly are among the most important skills that you can have in any profession, and they are particularly valuable to you as a nurse. Being a clear communicator will help you in job interviews as you seek advancement and better compensation. Patients and their family members will look to you as a valued source of information, and your colleagues will rely on you for your competence. Some communication goals you can consider include improving your: Nursing goals for improving skills While good communication is an asset, when it comes to professional development, the most important focus should be on your nursing skills. Whether you want to brush up on the basics or you are hoping to advance into a particular nursing specialty, identifying the skills that need the most work or learning about new technologies will give you the professional boost that you need. While you learned hands-on skills in nursing school, there’s nothing like real-world experience to teach you how to care for patients. Nursing is a vocation that is constantly teaching you new things. While there are invaluable lessons to be learned at work, you can learn about new technologies or methods through continuing education classes, or take the leap and commit to pursuing an advanced nursing degree. There are nursing skills checklists available for you to review and determine where you have the biggest opportunity for growth. For example, you can establish your own personal nursing goals to improve specific skills such as: Nursing goals for advancement Are you interested in moving beyond the role you’re in now and advancing into a specialty or management? If promotion is in your future, the best way to start is to identify what you need to do to qualify for the position that you hope to fill. There are plenty of career resources that can answer all your questions and set you on a path to success. Whatever your nursing goals are, the more you need to know about educational requirements, skill requirements, and amount of experience needed, the more effectively you can prepare yourself and set yourself up for success. In some cases you may need to invest in more education: As daunting as this may seem, if you are aware that you’ll need to do it then you can include the extra coursework into your professional nursing goals and begin saving for those costs, applying for scholarships, arranging for childcare, or doing whatever else you’ll need to do in order to prepare yourself for pursuing your dream. Only you will know what career path is right for you. As a nurse, some nursing goal examples could be: SMART goals As a nurse, establishing your own specific SMART goals will help you identify your goals and then come up with a plan of action for achieving them. SMART stands for: Setting SMART nursing goals will give you a much better chance of advancing in your career. You may be looking to elevate your professional standing by pursuing an advanced degree or moving into management, or perhaps you want to shift into an entirely different role such as nursing education. Whatever your aspirations, setting SMART nursing goals will help you provide better care for your patients because you’ll be working towards making yourself happier and more fulfilled as a nurse. Whether you’re taking classes to learn about new nursing technologies or learning a new language in response to the need for bilingual nurses, identifying what you need to learn or do to achieve your goal is the first step to moving forward! When you are internally driven, you not only improve your own performance, you elevate the attitude of those around you and improve the nursing care being provided in your environment. How to set SMART goals Examples of nursing SMART goals Now that you know the dos and don’ts for setting SMART nursing goals, let’s look at some good examples: Align professional goals with personal goals Developing your professional goals as a nurse is important, but the process is a lot easier when you’re also clear on what your personal goals are, and you’re sure that the two align. When your personal and professional aspirations are in sync, you can move forward to achieve both with confidence, while when they’re in conflict it can lead to frustration. To make sure your personal and professional goals are in alignment, honestly answer the following questions: When your personal and professional goals align, you are more likely to experience satisfaction in both. Try to write your nursing goals in ways that capture your life passions. Final thoughts Nurses who establish goals and who pursue professional development set themselves up for advancement and success. Whether you want to earn a new certifications or hope to become a nurse educator, the possibilities are endless — but they’re more easily achieved when you clarify what they are.
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