If you’re wondering how to be a better nurse, start with the moments in your workday that leave you unsure. Maybe you can complete the tasks, but don’t always understand why a particular treatment was chosen, or how an experienced nurse knew what to watch for. Those moments give you a place to focus your growth. The patients you care for, the skills you tend to avoid, and the questions you haven’t asked yet can all become opportunities to learn.
Here are four practical ways to deepen your understanding and keep growing in your nursing practice. Pick the one that feels most useful for where you are right now.
How to Be a Better Nurse: 4 Things to Try
No matter your role as a nurse, you can always improve your skills with a few simple tips. Let’s discuss how to be a better nurse.
Tip #1 – Face The Things That Scare You
Think about the assignments or tasks that make you tense up a little. You know, the ones you hope someone else will handle. For example, do you avoid things like ventilators, initiating a sepsis protocol, putting in a feeding tube, or starting an IV?
Choose one of those situations and get specific with yourself about what feels difficult.
(And if everything feels scary, brain dump all the tasks you avoid on a piece of paper and circle the top two. Let’s start there!)
“I’m bad at talking to families” doesn’t give you much to work with. “I lose my train of thought when several family members ask questions at once” gives you something you can practice. Then, identify someone who can help.
An experienced colleague, your unit educator, or another member of the care team may be able to explain their approach, walk you through equipment, or arrange supervised practice. If ventilators intimidate you, for example, ask a respiratory therapist when they might have time to explain something you don’t understand. You don’t need to become the unit expert overnight. Give yourself a manageable starting point and enough support to learn.
Try this during next shift ➡️ Identify one skill you want to strengthen and ask the appropriate colleague, “Could you help me find a good opportunity to practice this?”
Tip #2 – Learn the “Why” Behind Your Unit’s Common Medications
I love a good deep dive. Crime podcasts, documentaries, or whatever that goes into detail about one specific topic. Let’s use that same technique to answer how to be a better nurse.
Once you’ve settled into your nursing unit, you’ll notice you typically administer 10-15 medications more often than others, tailored to your patient population’s unique needs. This presents a valuable opportunity to narrow your focus and become an expert on these select medications. For example, nurses in a Neuro ICU might often administer drugs like Mannitol, 3% Saline, Propofol, Dexamethasone, and Neosynephrine, each chosen for its critical role in managing neurological conditions, far more frequently than those in a postpartum unit.
To leverage this, consider creating master cheat sheets or a digital note on your phone detailing these medications. This targeted approach is a big shift from the broad pharmacology you study in nursing school, and it helps you master the medications you use daily.
Go through the list and list out:
- Why do patients commonly get this medication on my unit?
- How does it connect to the most common diagnosis or problem?
- What assessments, labs, or precautions are relevant?
- What response is the team looking for?
- What should the patient(s) understand about it?
Use your organization’s current medication references and policies to guide your review. A pharmacist can also help you work through questions about why a medication was selected or what makes its use different in a particular situation. Don’t worry about making it sound fancy or complicated. Keep your explanations simple.
The goal is to connect what you know about the medication with what you know about the person receiving it. You might recognize a medication immediately and still realize you couldn’t explain its purpose clearly to a patient. That’s a useful learning opportunity.
Try this before your next shift ➡️ Choose one common medication on your unit. Review it, then practice explaining its purpose in plain language.
Tip #3 – Reflect on What’s Working and What Needs to Change
When a shift ends, it’s tempting to label it “good” or “terrible” and move on. But those labels don’t tell you much about what to keep doing or what to adjust. And honestly, this makes the journey of how to be a better nurse very pass or fail.
A few specific questions can help:
- What went well, and what helped it go well?
- When did I feel unsure?
- What took more time or energy than I expected?
- What question do I still need answered?
- What would I like to do differently next time?
Include the things you did well. Maybe you explained something clearly, asked for help early, or stayed organized during an unexpected admission. Those moments deserve your attention, too. It’s also worth examining routines you developed when you were brand new. Some may still help you. Others may need adjusting as your responsibilities and confidence grow.
For example, does the way you prepare your report sheet help you organize your care, or are you spending extra time rewriting information without a clear purpose? An experienced colleague may be able to help you simplify your process while keeping the information you need.
And sometimes, reflection reveals a problem you can’t solve through personal effort alone. Unclear expectations, equipment issues, or gaps in support may need a conversation with your educator or manager.
Try this after your next shift ➡️ Take two minutes to identify one thing that went well, one unanswered question, and one next step. Then let yourself be done. Reflection doesn’t need to become an evening of replaying everything you did.
Is giving report something you want to improve? My free nursing-report email course gives you a focused place to start. Work on how you organize and communicate information with this free resource, sent straight to your inbox. Sign up below 👇
Tip #4 – Ask Other Clinicians How They Think Through Decisions
One of my favorite ways to learn more about what was going on with patients was to ask physicians or advanced practice providers about their thought processes. A valuable question to pose is, “Could you share your differential diagnosis for this patient with me?” This helps me learn what other issues they were or are considering, why, and what led them to the specific path they chose.
I have found that physicians and APPs like to teach others, but you have to open the door first so they don’t feel like they’re being condescending by teaching something randomly to someone who hasn’t asked for it. If you’re aware of the differential diagnoses from the physician’s latest note but aren’t sure why they were appropriate, ask!
This approach not only broadens your understanding of various medical conditions and potential treatments but also deepens your comprehension of the rationale for the medications you administer and the justification for various interventions. This is what proactive learning looks like! It supports your growth as a well-rounded nurse and ultimately improves patient care.
Reading the relevant provider and consultant notes can also give you context for a more focused question. You may find the explanation you needed, or identify exactly what you want to clarify.
Try this during your next shift ➡️ Ask one thoughtful question about a clinical decision you want to understand better.
How These Habits Build Critical Thinking in Nursing
These four habits give you ways to practice thinking more deliberately about your work. You identify gaps in your understanding. You connect medications to the reason they’re being used. You examine your own decisions. You learn how other clinicians interpret information.
That’s useful practice for moving beyond “What do I need to do next?” toward questions like:
- What matters most in this situation?
- What am I assuming?
- What information am I missing?
- What do I need to clarify with the team?
You don’t have to have every answer yourself. Recognizing uncertainty and knowing when to seek help are part of developing your judgment.
For a closer look at this skill, read What Is Critical Thinking in Nursing?.
How to Be a Better Nurse: Watch the Video
Prefer to watch? Join me in the video below for a conversation about continuing to grow in your nursing practice.
Choose One Thing to Work On
Learning how to be a better nurse is an ongoing process. Give yourself something specific and achievable to work toward. Choose one skill to practice, one medication to understand more deeply, or one question to ask. After a few shifts, check in with yourself: What feels clearer? Where would more support help?
Your goals can change as you grow. You might want to feel more comfortable in your current role, become a preceptor, or prepare for leadership. You can also find plenty of meaningful growth right where you are, caring for patients.
Start with what would make the biggest difference in your everyday practice.
Want to start with giving report? Join my free nursing-report email course and make that your next area of focus.
Want More Support Building Your Clinical Judgment?
If you’d like structured guidance, my Critical Thinking for Nurses course explores assessment, prioritization, and communication, with patient scenarios to help you apply what you learn.The course is available through FreshRN All Access membership, alongside other nursing courses that support your clinical learning and professional development. You can explore what’s included and decide whether it fits the skills you want to build next.
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