How to List Nursing Skills on a Resume: Best Skills and Examples

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When writing a nursing resume, there are several skills that are essential to highlight your experience as a nurse. With so many nursing skills to choose from, you may wonder which nursing skills to include in your resume. In this article, learn more about the top nursing skills to include in your resume and how to include them to make your resume stand out.

How to list nursing skills on a resume

Follow these steps to list nursing skills on your resume:

1. First, make a list of all your skills

The first step toward listing skills on your nursing resume is to create a list of all the skills you have. You should try to think of every hard and soft skill you have used throughout your education and career. This list may be much longer than the number of skills you want to include in your resume, but making an exhaustive list will allow you to choose your greatest strengths when adding them to your resume.

2. Second, read the job description

Next, you will need to read the job description for the position you are applying to and compare your list of skills to the job description. The employer will likely describe several skills they prefer in a candidate throughout the job description. Try to find the skills in your list that are most relevant to the position you are applying to.

3. Third, choose your strongest skills

Next, review your list of skills and determine which ones are your strengths. You should try to identify the skills that are in both the job description and your skills list that you have the most proven experience with.

4. Then, add a skills list in your resume

Next, add a skills section to your resume. In the skills section of your resume, you should use a one- or two-column bullet-list format to identify each skill you have chosen and your level of experience with each skill. Experience level is usually identified by either beginner, intermediate, advanced or expert. You should try to include a combination of both interpersonal soft skills and hard nursing skills in this section.

5. Last, prove your skills in your experience section

Finally, use the experience section of your resume to support the skills section. You can do this by using the skills you have chosen in the bullet points of your responsibilities and accomplishments for each position. However, it is important to make sure each bullet point targets no more than one or two skills and focuses primarily on what the experience was.

Best nursing skills to add to a resume

The following nursing skills can be added to your resume to help it stand out to recruiters and hiring managers:

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is a mental process of analysis, reflection and evaluation of information. Nurses are required to apply critical thinking to solve problems and make the right decisions suitable for each patient. In your resume, it’s good to showcase how you demonstrated critical thinking and refined your reasoning skills. This might include working with emergency services that require the use of limited resources, quick thinking and acting without immediate administration or procedures. 

Time management

Time management is the ability to use your time wisely to complete tasks and projects in an efficient manner. As a nurse, you’ll need to have excellent time management skills. Nurses usually have to divide their time between several different patients. When highlighting time management skills on your nursing resume, you should try to show how you were effectively able to manage your time in clinical internships and in previous work experiences.

Teamwork

Medical facilities are filled with professionals from different social, cultural and educational backgrounds. As a nurse, it is important for you to showcase your ability to work with different people. In nursing, teams are required to collaborate with each other, doctors and other medical staff to help their patients. Nurses are encouraged to ask questions, share ideas, discuss solutions and share concerns. Each working shift must ensure that they work well with the preceding team. This will also ensure a safe and conducive work environment for all medical staff. 

Stamina

Strong physical and mental endurance is crucial to be successful as a nurse. Usually, nurses are required to be on their feet during most of their shifts. They spend most of their time moving from one patient to another and work shifts that are up to 12 hours long. They also see patients who are suffering from a variety of medical conditions.

Patient education

Nurses are often responsible for educating patients and their families about their medical diagnosis, treatment plan and follow-up and care instructions. Patient education is a nursing technical skill that requires a combination of strong communication skills, technical knowledge and compassion.

How to improve nursing skills

Follow these steps to improve your nursing skills:

1. First, practice your communication skills

A great way to improve several nursing skills is to practice improving your communication skills. Communication skills are closely related to many other nursing skills such as compassion, empathy, teamwork and patient education. You can improve your communication skills by identifying areas of communication you are less comfortable with and asking a friend, family member or colleague to help you practice.

2. Second, find a mentor

Another great way to improve your nursing skills is to find a mentor within the industry who you can learn and develop from. This mentor could be a college professor, a colleague or even a supervising doctor. When it comes to choosing a mentor, you should try to find someone within the industry who has more knowledge and experience than you and who inspires you to become better.

3. Last, complete continuing education

Finally, you can also improve your nursing skills by taking continuing education courses. You can use continuing education courses to reinforce and develop a greater understanding of an area of nursing you are already familiar with, or to learn a new hard skill in an area of nursing you are unfamiliar or less comfortable with.