Nursing skills
Essential nursing skills to boost your resume, based on our database of over 10 million real job listings.
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This report highlights the crucial nursing skills that every healthcare professional should possess while also guiding how to effectively present these skills on your resume to impress potential employers.How we got the data
The data in this report was pulled from Jobscan’s database of more than 10 million job descriptions and 17 million resumes.
We analyzed the job descriptions to find the skills that employers want the most. Then we analyzed the resumes to see which skills appeared most frequently.
Armed with this knowledge, job seekers can easily tailor their resumes and cover letters to highlight the most relevant skills for each job they apply to.
top 10 nurse Hard Skills
top 10 nurse Soft Skills
top 10 nurse Skills on Resume with High Match Rate
- Professional
- nursing
- communication
- patient care
- documentation
- Microsoft office
- coordsination
- case management
- leadership
- clinical experience
Top 10 nursing skills
Examples of how to write this skill on your resume:
- Excelled in providing comprehensive nursing care, including wound dressing, medication administration, and patient counseling.
- Demonstrated proficiency in carrying out physician orders, maintaining patient records and advocating for patient needs.
Examples of how to write this skill on your resume:
- Proficient in comprehensive patient care, including wound dressing, administering medication, and monitoring vital signs to ensure optimal patient health.
- Expertise in handling various medical equipment, including IV pumps, patient monitoring systems, and defibrillators, essential for delivering effective healthcare.
Examples of how to write this skill on your resume:
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team-oriented healthcare environment, often collaborating with doctors, physiotherapists, and other nursing staff to ensure the highest quality of patient care.
- Experience in multi-disciplinary teamwork facilitates smooth communication and cooperation among healthcare professionals.
Examples of how to write this skill on your resume:
- Experienced in handling emergency medical situations, providing immediate and effective acute care to critically ill patients.
- Skilled in performing lifesaving procedures, such as CPR and operation of defibrillators, during acute medical emergencies.
Examples of how to write this skill on your resume:
- Provided excellent patient care, resulting in increased patient satisfaction scores.
- Skilled in holistic patient care, addressing patients’ physical and emotional needs.
Examples of how to write this skill on your resume:
- Effective in coordinating care activities, from scheduling patient appointments to facilitating communication between healthcare professionals.
- Efficient in task prioritization, managing multiple patient cases simultaneously while ensuring all patients receive timely care.
Examples of how to write this skill on your resume:
- Strong ability to utilize the latest research in nursing practice, ensuring patients benefit from the most recent medical advancements.
- Proficient in critically analyzing medical research studies and integrating significant findings into patient care protocols.
Examples of how to write this skill on your resume:
- Strictly adhered to hospital policies and procedures, ensuring patient safety and high-quality care.
- Contributed to the development of new nursing policies to improve patient care delivery.
Examples of how to write this skill on your resume:
- Led a team of 10 nurses, coordinating patient care and ensuring efficient shift operations.
- Showed leadership in implementing a new patient record system, improving data accuracy.
Examples of how to write this skill on your resume:
- Praised for exceptional communication skills, effectively coordinating patient care with interdisciplinary teams.
- Utilized strong communication skills to educate patients and families about treatment plans and health maintenance.
Optimize your resume in minutes
5 tips for writing a nursing resume
Create a bulleted resume skills section
Use a simple, clean format that highlights your skills and experiences. Focus on readability using bullet points and short phrases to present your skills. Properly organize your resume into education, experience, and skills sections.
For example, a nurse’s bullet points might look like this:
- Provided high-quality patient care in a busy 30-bed medical/surgical unit, maintaining a 98% patient satisfaction score.
- Implemented an improved infection control protocol, reducing the rate of hospital-acquired infections by 15%.
- Coordinated a multidisciplinary team in the development and execution of individualized care plans, resulting in improved patient outcomes.
- Demonstrated ability to manage medical emergencies calmly and efficiently, leading to increased survival rates.
Hitting all the top job requirements with your skills list will help you rank highly for a keyword search within an applicant tracking system. But don’t stop there. Add context for every skill elsewhere in your work experience. If a recruiter is excited by leadership in your skills section, the first thing they’ll do is skim your work experience to figure out when, how, and how much you used that skill.
Highlight skills and achievements in your work experience section
As a nurse, you must emphasize your skills and achievements in the work experience section of your resume. This will make you stand out to potential employers and show them you possess the expertise they seek.
When detailing your work experience, be sure to showcase your accomplishments relevant to the nurse’s role. For instance, if you’ve excelled in conducting patient education initiatives, make a point to highlight these achievements.
Instead of saying,
“Conducted patient education.”
You could say,
“Conducted patient education initiatives on topics such as medication management, self-care, and disease prevention, leading to a 20% decrease in readmission rates.”
Using these detailed and quantified statements, you can effectively highlight your nursing skills and achievements, making your resume more attractive to potential employers.
Break resume skills sections into categories
If you’re applying for a nursing role that requires a diverse skillset, consider categorizing your skills to make it easier for potential employers to understand your range of expertise.
For instance, someone applying for the role might benefit from segmenting their skill lists as follows:
Clinical Skills:
- Patient Care: Delivered high-quality care to patients across diverse medical conditions.
- Medication Administration: Accurately dispensed prescribed medications, reducing administration errors.
- Emergency Response: Demonstrated ability to act swiftly and accurately in emergency situations, improving patient survival rates.
Leadership and Teamwork Skills:
- Team Coordination: Collaborated effectively with multidisciplinary healthcare teams to provide comprehensive patient care.
- Conflict Resolution: Successfully mediated conflicts within the healthcare team, maintaining high morale and efficiency.
- Mentorship: Guided junior nurses and nursing students, promoting professional growth and skill enhancement.
Communication and Interpersonal Skills:
- Patient Education: Conducted patient and family education on disease management, medication, and self-care procedures.
- Empathy: Provided emotional support to patients and their families during challenging medical situations.
- Multicultural Sensitivity: Effectively communicate with patients from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Technical Skills:
- Electronic Health Records (EHR): Proficient in using EHR software for accurate and timely patient data documentation.
- Medical Equipment Operation: Skilled in operating various medical equipment and tools.
Compliance and Safety Skills:
- Infection Control: Implemented infection control measures, reducing hospital-acquired infections.
- Regulatory Compliance: Ensured adherence to healthcare regulations and standards, passing all external audits with high ratings.
This method of categorizing skills allows potential employers to understand your diverse expertise quickly and makes your resume more readable.
Quantify your achievements
Use numbers to quantify your achievements wherever possible. This helps potential employers understand your abilities and the impact you can have on their organization.
Instead of saying,
“Collaborated with the healthcare team.”
You could say,
“Collaborated with the healthcare team to achieve a 10% improvement in discharge planning and coordination.”
Using numbers gives hiring managers a better sense of your value and demonstrates your expertise in the nursing field.
Quantifying your achievements makes your resume more compelling and effectively communicates the impact you can have on a potential employer’s organization.
Tailor your resume to the job description
Read the description carefully and emphasize the relevant skills and experiences. Highlight the skills that the employer seeks and provide examples of how you’ve used those skills in your previous roles. Doing so can demonstrate that you’re a strong fit for the position and increase your chances of being invited to an interview.
Job Title: Nurse Manager at a Healthcare Facility
Requirements:
Experience with patient care coordination, strong leadership skills, data-driven decision-making, and knowledge of healthcare regulations and compliance standards.
Tailored Resume Description:
- Orchestrated patient care coordination initiatives in a busy 50-bed medical/surgical unit, resulting in a 20% increase in patient satisfaction and a 15% decrease in hospital readmission rates.
- Led and mentored a team of 25 nurses and healthcare professionals, fostering a high-performance culture that boosted overall team efficiency by 35% and reduced staff turnover by 25%.
- Spearheaded healthcare compliance initiatives, ensuring 100% adherence to healthcare regulations and successfully passing all external audits over a three-year tenure.
By tailoring your resume in this way, you can demonstrate that you have the specific skills and experiences the employer is looking for, thus increasing your chances of getting an interview.
Bonus Tip: Use action verbs
Start each bullet point with an action verb. An action verb expresses an action, such as “create,” “build,” “manage,” “lead,” or “implement.”
Action verbs grab the reader’s attention and paint a vivid picture of what you accomplished at work.
Action verbs make your resume more interesting to read. They also show the kind of can-do attitude that employers are looking for.
FAQs
Clinical skills in nursing refer to the practical abilities required to provide effective care and treatments to patients. These include skills like patient assessment, wound care, medication administration, IV insertion, vital signs monitoring, emergency care, patient education, and infection control.
Soft skills are crucial in nursing because they facilitate better interaction with patients, families, and other healthcare professionals. They include communication, empathy, teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability. For example, effective communication can help a nurse explain a diagnosis or treatment plan clearly to a patient, and empathy can provide emotional support to patients and their families.
Key personal skills for nursing include:
Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others.
Communication: Being able to convey information clearly and effectively.
Resilience: Coping with stressful situations and maintaining emotional stability.
Adaptability: Adjusting to changing situations or environments.
Attention to detail: Ensuring accuracy in administering treatments and recording information.
Essential skills and abilities for success in nursing include clinical competency, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, and physical stamina. Key personal attributes include empathy, resilience, patience, and a caring and compassionate nature.
To make your nursing skills stand out on your resume, be specific and quantify your achievements where possible. For example, instead of “Provided patient care,” write “Delivered high-quality care to over 50 patients daily in a busy medical/surgical unit.” Also, tailor your skills to match the job description, including hard and soft skills.
A nursing major helps develop:
Clinical skills: Practical skills needed to provide care to patients.
Communication skills: The ability to convey information effectively.
Critical thinking: The ability to analyze situations and make informed decisions.
Leadership skills: The ability to guide and motivate others.
Top clinical skills needed for home healthcare include:
Wound care: Managing and dressing wounds.
Medication management: Ensuring patients take their medications correctly.
Patient assessment: Monitoring the patient’s condition and vitals.
Mobility assistance: Helping patients move around safely.
Catheter care: Managing and maintaining urinary catheters.
