Nurse Resume Example [2019]

Last Updated
3 min read

Like in all the other industries and public sectors, nurses might find it challenging to create their job application when looking for a new job or wanting to relocate to another city/country.

Therefore, our team researched with employers and recruiters and compiled this short guide tailored for nurses looking for a new job including resume tips, examples of skills, how to write your achievements and other specific details.

nurse resume example writing

Firstly, we cannot emphasize this enough, but make sure your resume is tailored for one specific job at a time in order to increase your chances of getting hired faster. 

Writing Duties and Achievements For a Nurse Resume

As a nurse, you have dozens of duties, responsibilities, and achievements, but it is important to focus on the one that had the highest value for the institution where you apply. For example, listing “Provided patient care” will not add value to your application, since this expression is too general. 

Writing general duties is a common mistake because applicants believe that nursing is similar to different hospitals and departments, but in reality, your duties will differ between different facilities. Consider answering the following questions when listing your duties, in order to better write your duties: 

  • Which type of medication did you administer?
  • What specific equipment/devices you have experience using? For example: automated IV pump, patient-controlled analgesia pump, peak flow system, portable water collection system, etc.
  • What was the range of the patients you look after? Since caring for children requires different duties and skills than caring for an adult.
  • Did you start IVs?
  • Which are the industry processes, procedures or different protocols that you have experience with?

Firstly, you will need to include in your nurse resume the duties you have experience with and are mentioned in the job description, trying to match them as close as possible.

Your achievements can be framed together with the duties if possible, in order to include both at the same time, so that you explain how you accomplished the results while you performed your normal duties. This is not possible all the time; therefore the following questions might help to identify the achievements to write on your resume:

  • Have you received any awards, praise or recognition from your previous work place?
  • Did your previous work place receive any awards or recognition? If yes, how did your duties contribute to their success?

The following nursing resume template can be used as a source of inspiration and you can create your resume for free by selecting the creative resume template from our resume templates page.

nursing resume

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Nursing Skills Examples For a Resume

This profession is a challenging but rewarding one, where various hard skills are required. You need to have a lot of medical knowledge and perform specific procedures.  

Skills for a Nurse Resume:

  • Accuracy
  • Assisting in surgery
  • Administration of medication
  • Chemotherapy administration
  • Bedside monitoring
  • Bladder irrigation
  • Blood administration
  • Communication (verbal & written)
  • Critical thinking
  • Discharge
  • Emergency room care
  • Empathy
  • Healthcare software
  • Infection control
  • Lab testing
  • Intramuscularly injections or IV therapy
  • Maternal care
  • Observation (since you need to track subtle and small changes such as a change in the color or odor)
  • Pain management
  • Physical assessments
  • Physical endurance (since you will work long hours and have to use sometimes heavy equipment or patients)
  • Psychiatric care
  • Rehabilitation
  • Seizure precautions
  • Surgery preparation
  • Teamwork
  • Wound irrigation
  • Withdrawal of blood samples

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