10 Soft Skills Needed for Nursing

As a nurse, you know that both hard skills and soft skills (also known as power skills) are needed for nursing. 

Hard skills are your specialized nursing skills, like using aseptic technique to clean and dress a surgical wound, inserting an NG tube or catheter, or starting an IV. 

Soft skills are often thought of as “people skills.” Soft skills are identified by how you communicate and work with others and the way you go about doing your nursing work.

But make no mistake about it—soft skills are no less important than hard skills in nursing. In fact, “Despite the increase in the use of technology and remote consulting, 82% of clinicians agreed that soft skills, such as listening and being empathetic, have become increasingly important among clinicians in the last decade” according to a 2022 report by Elsevier titled “Clinician of the Future.”

What are soft skills in nursing?

Depending on the source you consult, the list of soft skills needed for nursing varies a bit. However, the 10 soft skills listed below are most commonly cited as critical for nurses to have:

1. Communication 

Communication tops the list of soft skills nurses must have. Because nursing is inherently a “people profession,” nurses find themselves working with a diversity of patients and other healthcare professionals on a daily basis. 

One of the most important communication skills nurses need to master is active listening. Active listening “involves paying attention to the conversation, not interrupting, and taking the time to understand what the speaker is discussing. The “active” element involves taking steps to draw out details that might not otherwise be shared. Active listeners avoid interrupting at all costs, summarize and repeat back what they have heard, and observe body language to give them an extra level of understanding.”

Active listening communicates to the other person that you are truly listening and are interested in what they have to say. Nurses who use active listening are able to build trust and rapport with patients and coworkers. 

2. Empathy

Empathy is usually taught in nursing school as a critical communication skill nurses must have when working with patients. Empathy is the ability to “put yourself in another person‘s shoes” to help you identify their thoughts, feelings, and point of view as a nurse. It requires you to put aside your own thoughts, beliefs, judgments, and priorities and truly be present with the person you’re communicating with. Without empathy, nurses are unable to build a therapeutic helping relationship with their patients because a lack of empathy communicates a lack of caring to patients. 

Patients who receive empathetic care also “exhibit less anxiousness, improved self-concept, and lower levels of depression and hostility.” In addition, research shows that clinicians who demonstrate empathy for their patients also benefit themselves by experiencing less stress, burnout, and depression as well as increased job satisfaction.

3. Problem-solving

Creative problem-solving and decision-making skills are also essential for every nurse to have. Despite what you were taught in nursing school, it only takes a nurse about 10 minutes of nursing practice in the “real world” to realize things don’t always work as explained in nursing textbooks. Nurses are constantly having to troubleshoot problems on the fly and use critical thinking, regardless of where they provide nursing care. 

How do you transport a morbidly obese patient by wheelchair to x-ray for a possible broken leg when they don’t fit into any wheelchair the hospital has? As a home health nurse, what can you do to prevent a patient from falling out of bed at home at night and getting injured when they don’t have side rails on their bed? How can you get a combative long-term care resident with dementia to take hypertension medication when their blood pressure is 188/98? These are just a few examples of problems that nurses have to solve on a daily basis in their practice.

4. Conflict resolution 

Nurses who have developed strong active listening, empathetic communication, and problem-solving skills are also much more likely to be effective in conflict resolution. There are five different styles of conflict resolution that a nurse may use: avoidance, accommodation, competition, compromise, and collaboration. 

How a nurse works to resolve conflict at work is important for many reasons. First of all, research shows that different styles of conflict resolution are “strong predictors of the level of morale, burnout and job satisfaction of the nursing profession.”  Secondly, “The use of negative coping mechanisms, such as confrontation and avoidance styles, result in increased negative outcomes, increased burnout and occupational stress (Montoro-Rodriquez & Small, 2006).”

Not surprisingly, a collaborative approach to conflict resolution is seen as ideal. Nurses who use a collaborative approach to resolving conflict need to be assertive and cooperative while seeking a solution that will satisfy the concerns of all parties involved.

5. Teamwork

As Rosengarten points out “Successful teamwork can make a huge workload of unmanageable tasks manageable. However, unsuccessful teamwork can leave people struggling to cope.” That’s because successful teamwork results in synergy where one plus one equals three—or more. It’s a result of each team member’s efforts equaling more than the sum total of all the team members’ efforts combined. It’s where magic happens. It’s the sweet spot where the skills and strengths of each team member are needed at just the right moment. And it’s where each team member feels most needed and happy in their role.

Needless to say, nurse managers and nursing employers long to find nurses who are great team players. Because without them, every day nursing tasks are a struggle for the entire healthcare team and patient care suffers because of it.

6. Adaptability

Sherman explains that “adaptability will be an essential competency” for nurses as we move into the future. The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) says adaptability means “having ready access to a range of behaviors” and being willing to experiment and shift as change occurs.

Wondering if you’re adaptable as a nurse? The CCL suggests asking yourself these questions:

• Do you see change as something positive?

• Do you view change as an opportunity?

• Are you able to alter your plans as needed?

• Are you a quick learner of technology, vocabulary, and operating rules?

• Do you lead change by setting an example?

• Do you take into consideration other people’s concerns?

• Are you able to accurately assess your strengths and weaknesses?

• Are you able to admit your mistakes, while learning from them, and then move forward?

• Are you optimistic?

7. Strong work ethic 

Although there is an increasing number of nursing jobs available with the growing nursing shortage, they aren’t all jobs you would want. If you’d like to advance in your nursing career and snag some of the most coveted nursing roles and positions, you’ll need to have excellent references that can vouch for your strong work ethic.

To land the best nursing job that virtually every nurse seems to be applying for, here are 7 characteristics that HR departments and nurse managers who are hiring want to hear that you possess according to your work references:

• A desire to improve

• Dedication

• Focus

• Initiative

• Productivity

• Professionalism

• Punctuality

8. Positive attitude

The importance of having a positive attitude and outlook has perhaps never been more important than it is right now as nurses and healthcare teams work under the burden of chronic short staffing and impending burnout. A nurse’s attitude and behavior either contributes to or hinders a healthy work environment which is required to ensure teams function optimally and patients receive the best possible care.

“Simply put, today’s job seekers and employers are looking not only for those who can bring their A-game, but also for those with a stellar personality to match their smarts. In the healthcare industry, personality plays a vital role as it can make a difference in how a patient feels towards a specific nurse or doctor. A positive attitude (just like a negative one) is infectious; it can affect all the other staff members positively and help bring the mood up, increasing productivity and satisfaction in the workplace.”

9. Effective stress management

Regardless of where you work, nursing is a stressful job compared to many other careers. In addition to working long hours, nurses are faced with high physical and cognitive demands as well as unexpected changes in their work. The truth is, a nurse must learn to proactively manage their stress levels if they want to continue working in the nursing profession long term.

Being able to manage stress effectively is also important for patient safety. Problem-solving may become impaired in high stress situations which can put not only patient safety at risk but also the nurse’s safety and expose the healthcare employer to litigation.

Nurses who aren’t able to “leave work at work” most of the time and who constantly bring work problems home with them also risk jeopardizing relationships with their family and friends.

10. Networking

Although most people are familiar with connecting professionally online, networking in person is still important. Professional networking is an important part of sharing best practices and what is most current in terms of evidence-based practice which is critical for providing high quality patient care. 

Other benefits of networking as a nurse include:

• Discovering new job opportunities 

• Building a support network of like-minded colleagues

• Advancing your career

• Gaining influence in the healthcare system

• Exploring new career paths

In addition, Dennison suggests “You might want to consider connecting with people who aren’t even in your field. Why not connect with someone who is adjacent in your interests and see how your pursuits might expand in that direction? Even if you don’t necessarily want to do a hard pivot to another field, there’s a lot to be gained from incorporating other industry strategies and goals into your own practice.”

Why are soft skills important in nursing?

In 2015, the Hawaii Research and Statistics Office completed a survey. They asked approximately 125 of the larger employers in each industry (construction, information technology, hospitality, and healthcare) which soft skills they thought were most important for their employees to have. Results obtained from the 58 healthcare employers who replied showed that, in order of importance, communication, empathy, listening, and a strong work ethic were believed to be the most valuable soft skills for healthcare workers to have.

Soft skills are also critical to employee well-being. For example,“By recruiting employees with desirable soft or power skills, businesses can support other employee well-being efforts. When team members and organizational leaders possess soft skills such as emotional intelligence, verbal reasoning, communication abilities and empathy, they create a positive working environment that is welcoming to all. This welcoming environment reduces stress, eases workplace friction, enhances team chemistry, improves mental and emotional health, and increases productivity.”

The most important soft skills needed for nursing include communication, empathy, problem-solving, conflict resolution, teamwork, adaptability, a strong work ethic, positive attitude, effective stress management, and networking. These skills are highly sought after by healthcare employers when hiring staff. They’re also critically important for creating healthy workplaces and employee well-being. If you’re looking to start or further your career in nursing, make sure to focus on honing these essential skills. 

As Dziados points out “A successful nursing career is not just defined by educational degree, certifications, and hard clinical skills, but also in the ability to use soft skills to foster excellent patient outcomes and make a positive difference in the healthcare organization’s future.”