June 21, 2022
Most people choose their career path based on how lucrative it is or what profession is common in their family. But have you ever looked within and asked what career will go well with your character and nature? Perhaps not. The truth is that you are bound to excel in certain career types more than others only because your personality qualities allow you to. Knowing your personality type can make finding the right career more straightforward.
For example, nursing is a gratifying profession, and only a few people are destined to excel in it. It requires a certain personality to handle everyday pressure from critical health patients and emergencies that require immediate decision-making.
Although certifications and educational degrees qualify you as a nurse, the right personality characteristics can further guarantee success. The demand for nursing jobs is expected to grow by 7% by 2029, and more people are discovering their true calling in the field with the help of career assessments and personality tests.
Choose the Right Career Path for YOU!
Choosing the right career path is an exciting task that requires looking at your abilities, aspirations, and overall personality. It will be easier to thrive in a highly competitive environment if you choose a career based on your personality.
In most professions, there are different personality types, and nursing is no different. With so many nursing specialties out there, it's helpful to narrow down your choices and explore possibilities based on your unique personality.
Let's take a look at some personality types that are more suitable for this profession.
Personality Types that Suit Nursing
Recent studies have suggested specific personalities that suit the nursing profession. With an estimated 2.86 million nurses in the United States, there are a few commonly found traits in nurses who have a successful career.
1. Caring and Emotionally Sensitive
If empathy is one of your personality traits, you're more likely to be a caring and likable nurse when working closely with patients.
Patients want to be cared for with love and tenderness due to their complex and painful ailments. Patients tend to bond and feel secure under the supervision of warm and caring nurses. Nurses who have a natural tendency to show care to patients will flourish in this setting.
2. Good Communicators
In the nursing field, having strong verbal skills is very important. A nurse's role is heavily dependent on effective communication with other nurses and doctors. Without having the right communication skills, errors are more likely to happen, threatening your career.
When you're a good communicator, your patients will feel safe in your care rather than neglected or misinformed.
3. Attentive to Detail
Nurses work around the clock under immense pressure, simultaneously caring for multiple patients. They balance the tension between receiving orders from the doctors and using their skills and experience to care for patients.
Under immense stress, there is a high risk of human error, which seems inevitable. Nurses know that they have people's lives in their hands, and a good one will be observant of small changes.
Find a Nursing Specialty That Suits Your Personality
There are many different specialties in the nursing field, and not all of them will be your cup of tea. Depending on your personality traits, you'll be more likely to excel in one more than another. For example, attentiveness is dominant in Cardiac Nursing as they assist in intricate surgical procedures like bypass, angioplasty, or pacemaker surgery.
A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) specialty demands a nurse be highly empathetic when administering anesthesia to patients suffering from pain. Likewise, when it comes to careers for type A personalities, Critical Care Nursing is ideal because they tend to exhibit leadership, dominance, and independence.
Personality Tests
Wondering why you need a personality test to determine which nursing specialty suits your personality? Using a personality-based assessment can help understand where your nursing potential lies.
DiSC Personal Profile System
Trainers who have been working in healthcare organizational behavior have used the DiSC Personal Profile system to help potential nurses examine their personalities and understand which nursing specialties they suit.
The model works around four dimensions of behavior: (D) dominance, (i) influence, (S) steadiness, and (C) conscientiousness. Here is the summary of how scoring in the DiSC assessment works to identify a nurse's specialty:
- High dominance – Nurses with high dominance are good with critical care units and operating room nursing. They are quick in decision-making, problem-solving, and taking control.
- High Influence – Nurses with highInfluence are the center of attention and gravitate around people. They are best suited for specialties like mental health, oncology, and pediatrics. They have strong teamwork and leadership skills and are open individuals.
- High steadiness – Nurses with high steadiness like the norm. They are great in non-critical roles and are dependable.
- High conscientiousness – Nurses with high conscientiousness ensure the standards are met accurately. They are good as nurse faculty and administrators.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
MBTI uses four dimensions to define a personality, each with two opposing preferences. These include:
- Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I) - Extrovert nurses tend to act before thinking, making them more suitable for emergency units.
- Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N) - Nurses in ICU roles have more sensing attributes, which allow them to look at specifics and adopt a more realistic approach.
- Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F) - Nurses that feel for their patients are more suitable for roles that involve significant patient interaction.
- Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P) - Nurses with judging characteristics maintain strict medical records of their interactions. They take control of monitoring, recording, and reporting symptoms or changes in patients' conditions.
Pick the Best Nursing Job for Your Personality
The nursing profession is like no other, and to obtain success in this career field, you will first need to introspect the kind of personality you have. Personality testing can give you valuable insight into the type of specialties in which you can excel. Studies have shown that key personality characteristics correlate with career success. Therefore, a personality test can help you find the right nursing specialty.
Sources:
- By the Numbers: Nursing Statistics 2021. "Carson-Newman University." https://onlinenursing.cn.edu/news/nursing-by-the-numbers/. 20 December 2021.
- What is DiSC? "DiSC Profile". https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/. 20 December 2021.
- The Myers-Brigg Foundation. "MBTI® Basics". https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/. 4 January 2022.
