The importance of good goal-setting for nurses cannot be overemphasized. A study by the American Nurses Association found that nurses who set goals were more satisfied with their jobs and felt that they had a better sense of control over their work.
Because goals provide a keen sense of motivation, direction, clarity, and purpose, they are critical to the success of every nurse. Before we get to share with you the best SMART goals examples for nurses, let’s first talk about why smart goal setting in nursing is important.
Why is Goal Setting in Nursing Important?
Goal setting is very important in the nursing profession for many reasons. Goals encourage success, and setting individual or team goals help nurses feel more accomplished. Goals provide a sense of direction to your work, they increase motivation and productivity.
They can also enable you to get an idea about the kind of success that is needed in order for you to get promoted or even get recognized by your employer.
Goal setting can help boost morale especially when teams are working on common goals which are often appealing to the emotion of the team members. Setting goals together with colleagues helps build trust while allowing individual nurses to grow through teamwork and shared responsibility.
By encouraging goal-setting, organizations will have increased retention rates because their employees feel empowered, supported, and recognized for their efforts.
Well-formulated and realistic goals have been proven to actually improve patient care by encouraging all team members to remain proactive and constantly look for ways to improve the quality of care that they provide.
Here are five reasons why it’s so important.
1. Forces You to Focus
Goals force you to focus on what’s important. You can’t achieve everything at once, so you have to prioritize and figure out what you need to do in order to achieve your goal. This type of thinking can help you better manage your time, and it can also help you identify the steps that you need to take in order to reach a particular goal.
2. Encourages innovation
When nurses set goals for themselves, they come up with new ways of doing things in order to achieve those goals. For example, if a nurse wants to reduce the amount of time that it takes her to complete a task, she might come up with a new system or process that helps her do just that. This setting encourages nurses to be creative and innovative in their thinking, and that can only lead to better patient care.
3. Helps with problem-solving
Goals often require nurses to solve problems in order to achieve them. This is especially true for goals that are related to patient care. For instance, a nurse might need to come up with a new treatment plan for a patient who is not responding to traditional treatments. Problem-solving is an important skill that nurses need to have in order to be successful, and goal setting helps to develop this skill.
4. Promotes teamwork
When nurses set team goals, it promotes teamwork and cooperation among all members of the team. Team goals often appeal to the emotions of team members, and they can help build trust while allowing individual nurses to grow through teamwork and shared responsibility.
5. Helps nurses achieve their full potential
Nurses who set goals often achieve more than those who don’t. This is because goal setting helps nurses to focus on their strengths and weaknesses, and it provides them with a roadmap for improving their skills. Well-formulated goals can help nurses reach their full potential both professionally and personally.
How to Write SMART Goals Examples for Nurses
Now you understand the importance of goal setting and why it can help you become a better nurse. The following describes how to write a SMART goal in nursing:
1. Specific or Short-Term Goal
Your goals need to be specific so that you know exactly what they are and where they fit into your overall career plan. It’s easy for nurses to set vague, unclear goals without really thinking through their purpose or how they will be implemented, but these types of goals are not effective because your chances of achieving them are very low.
You should aim to set SMART Goals in Nursing by defining the who, what, when, and where of each one. For example “I will spend 20 minutes after each shift charting on my patients” is an example of a clear objective.
2. Measurable Goals
A goal should be measurable so that you can track your progress and determine whether or not you are making any headway. This also helps to hold you accountable since you can check in on your goal on a regular basis. A goal such as “I will improve my assessment skills” is difficult to measure, but a goal such as “I will complete three nursing assessments during my next shift” is much easier to track.
3. Achievable
Your goals need to be achievable so that they are realistic and something that you can actually accomplish. Setting goals that are too high or unrealistic will only lead to frustration and discouragement on your part, so’s important to make sure that your goals are challenging yet achievable.
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4. Relevant
Your goals must be relevant to your career and personal aspirations as a nurse. They should also align with the objectives of your organization and the specific needs of your patients.
5. Time-bound
A goal should have a specific time frame associated with it so that you can measure your progress and know when you have accomplished it. This helps to keep you focused and motivated as you work towards achieving your goal. “I will achieve certification in pediatric nursing within one year” is an example of a goal with a set time frame.
Examples of SMART Goals for Nurses
Following are some examples of SMART goals for nurses:
1. I will complete my required CEUs in the next six months.
2. I will ask every patient about his or her spiritual needs during the next shift that I work.
3. By March, I will apply to at least three jobs that incorporate my interests and expertise in nursing.
4. By January 1st, I will have completed all of my goal-specific assignments for school so that they are out of the way and free me up to focus on studying for finals during the month of December.
5. Within two weeks, I will develop a plan to overcome my fear of charting by asking our charge nurse for help with this task.
6. I want to educate patients and their families to understand their disease process and the plan of care.
7. I will ask my charge nurse for specific patient assignments that incorporate my newly acquired skills of assessing, and administering medications and therapeutics.
8. My goal is to be promoted to the position of head nurse within one year by increasing my attention toward professional development efforts (attending classes, and conferences) and focusing on ways to improve clinical care (assessment skills, documentation).
Final Thought
Now that you know how to write a SMART goal in nursing, it’s time to sit down and get started on creating your own! Remember to make them specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound for the best results.
And don’t forget to revise and update your goals as needed so that they always reflect your current aspirations and goals.
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