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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Health Care
They are talking about this topic: General Skills
The quotes below are about this issue:
Many employers feel that an increasing number of students are entering nursing due to high salaries or an interest in technology (as opposed to the primary goal of helping people). Employers feel such workers do not exhibit the expected level of care for patients and their families. Therefore, entry-level hires need stronger skills in patient care and communication. This includes increasing their ability to be hospitable, advocate for patients, anticipate needs, resolve conflict and communicate effectively.
| "Communication, too. It seems that's a big issue. Even just communicating with—not just me as the director—but family members and residents. I mean, I run a memory care unit, so even interacting with the dementia patients—that level of communication is just not there." | Central |
| "Don't say, 'I don't know.' I had a nurse that did that. A family member would ask her, 'Why is my mom doing this?' And the nurse would say, 'I don't know.' Families don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that. My employees don't want to hear that. At some point in time communication needs to be taught to them. I'm not sure what the appropriate way to do that is, but they need the interpersonal skills to deal with doctors, other nurses, upset families, and upset residents." | Central |
| "I think what we've seen over the course of time is that health care used to be very technical in nature, and so the nurse was the nurse and had the authority. And the same with physicians. Nobody questioned the doctors or the nurses. Today, they are being questioned all of the time—and rightfully so with all of the information on the internet and all of the education that society has—but what nurses need is a level of professionalism to deal with those questions. They come out of school with technical skills, but they can't function in the real world. Maybe they're dealing with a blood test and those types of things, and they understand how to do those things. But they don't know how to talk to people. And it angers them because it angers the patient or their families." | Central |
| "I think they understand the technical side, but they don't know how to share information effectively without causing anger to the family and the patient." | Central |
| "I've actually had nurses tell me, 'This isn't what I signed up for. I'm a nurse. I'm not a counselor.' And it's like, 'Actually, that's part of the job.'" | Central |
| "We really look for a focus on the patient and family-centered care. If that's not there, what's the motivation of the person in terms of why they want to work in health care? Or why they want to work in our organization? Is the job all about how it affects the nurse and his or her work? Or is it about how we can do the best job for our patients? So, having that perspective is one of the underlying things that we look for. If I have someone with that perspective, I'm going to be more accommodating to providing additional training for technical skills. I can't really train for that other component though." | Central |
| "I think that another struggle that I see in the soft skills area is the ability to handle conflict, particularly in situations where it's really important. Maybe it's an issue of a patient's safety. And so do they have the skill set to address difficult topics or issues? Are they going to be able to step up to that conversation when the need arises? Because that's a skill that we learn and get more comfortable with as we practice it. And we see people struggle with that." | Central |