10 Transferable Skills Nurses Can Take Beyond the Bedside

Work ethic, time management, and human touch make you the obvious choice.

Nurses have a tendency to undersell themselves in the job search, assuming the identity of taskmaster.

Recognizing your other super powers is a strategic way to guide your search and secure offers in a competitive market.

For example, when you clock in you’re probably already thinking five steps ahead of the game.

You’re gathering patient assignments, checking orders, filling your pockets with supplies, organizing sheets for bedside shift reports.

You know John Doe is going to need his blood sugar checked before the breakfast tray arrives and Jane Smith needs a magnesium bag hung. There’s a rapid response team in room 4 and a resident team rounding on your amputee in room 5.

You don’t show up and wait for people to tell you what to do. You approach work with a sense of urgency based on experience and careful planning.

Here are 10 more transferable skills that apply to every area of nursing.

Critical Thinking

You're an expert in pattern recognition and pay close attention to details. You catch errors before they happen and make suggestions to the team.

Service Recovery

You know how to work with difficult personalities and make the best of a stressful situation.

Resourcefulness

You’re often absorbing other jobs (housekeeping, PT, RT, unit secretary, dietary, etc). In the traditional corporate world employees are trained to stay in their lane.

Emergency Preparedness

The stakes are life or death. Your brain runs through every algorithm because that’s just how it works.

Let's not forget your ability to perform under pressure while navigating frequent interruptions and time-sensitive deadlines.

Emotional Intelligence

How quickly can you establish trust and credibility with a patient? This is a highly coveted skill in sales, business development, and marketing.

Triage

Can you determine the MOST important task, then dedicate all of your attention to it?

Patient Advocacy

You know how to vouch for patients because you’ve witnessed their experiences first hand. Empathy and understanding are huge assets in sectors like non-profit organizations or charities.

Leadership

Can you communicate to different levels of a team? Attitude and cooperation is a key to culture fit wherever you go.

Process Implementation

Can you identify bottlenecks? For example, delays in admissions/discharges? Even better, were you part of a team that improved a process based on research studies, trends, technology.

Education

Can you explain complex disease processes to the general public? Education, copywriting, wellness coaching, case management, all need this skill.

If you’re thinking about changing careers or companies, take a moment to reflect on these strengths.

We tend to enjoy what we're already good at.

Let it be your guide.