Complete guide with example to create Nursing resume

Simply put, nurses save lives every day around the world. Without their attention, taking care of our health would be very complicated. And due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, their work is becoming more important every day.

In general, doctors specialize in a single area of ​​health care, but nurses provide patients with comprehensive care, ensuring that medications are administered as prescribed by the doctor, reporting adverse events immediately and recording the patient’s medical history. Nurses are not assistants to doctors, but take equal responsibility for the general care of patients.

Before giving you practical advice and recommendations on what to include in your resume, we will analyze the responsibilities, the field of work and the skills that a nursing professional must have.

Primary Responsibilities of Nurses

In addition to evaluating and monitoring the health of sick people, they coordinate care with various specialized doctors.

The tasks that these professionals perform vary greatly depending on their type of specialization, but these are the most common:

• Perform medical tests, including blood draws.

• Prepare detailed care histories.

• Meeting the physical and mental needs of the people they serve.

• Provide medical and health advice.

• Collaborate with health service providers to provide comprehensive care.

• Stay up-to-date on new medications, treatments, and therapies.

• Manage all activities related to the medications taken by the patient.

• Prepare patients for surgery.

• Assist surgeons during operations.

• Provide care to ensure a good post-surgical recovery.

• Check vital signs of patients.

Work field

Nursing staff do not only work in hospitals or clinics. The scope of employment of nursing staff is very broad. Although this list does not include all the work environments in which nursing professionals work, these are the most common:

• hospitals

• clinics

• offices

• Educational institutions

• Pharmacy

• Company medical departments

• Day care centers

• homes for the elderly

• nursing homes

specializations

These professionals may specialize in many fields, including the geriatric, pediatric, treatment planning, critical care, and case management sectors.

Likewise, and thanks to new technologies, they can offer health guidance in person or remotely regarding palliative care or preventive measures, such as changing eating habits or planning exercise programs, based on the state of health. , age and weight of the patients.

Some of the different types of specializations in this discipline are:

• General or family Offers care focused on the family as a whole. Usually this type of specialist works in community hospitals.

• Anesthesiology. They work in the operating room, providing anesthesia before the operation and making sure its effect doesn’t wear off. You should also verify that the patient has no adverse reactions related to anesthesia.

• newborn care. They work with sick newborn babies.

• Obstetric-gynecological care. They provide care to women of all ages, including the reproductive sphere during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. They also handle care related to sexuality, contraception, and menopause.

• pediatric care. They provide care for children with illnesses.

• Ambulatory nursing. In general, they mostly treat people with high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease, among others, but who do not require hospitalization.

• Hospital or clinic nursing. They provide care to inpatients, in collaboration with physicians and healthcare personnel, including monitoring patients, administering their medications and therapies, and managing patient records.

• Attention to adolescents. They specialize in genetic, hormonal, and sexual disorders during puberty.

• Nurse educator. They educate and train professionals who aspire to practice in the field of nursing during their university studies and offer training to recent graduates who are just beginning their practice in this area.

Nursing Staff Essential Skills

To know what to include in your CV, it is important that you know the basic skills expected of nursing staff:

1. Teamwork

As nursing staff work with a vast number of treating physicians, specialists, physical therapists, residents, pharmacists, social workers, EMTs and janitors, the ability to work as a team in a highly stressful environment is vital.

This means offering colleagues emotional support, counseling and training in high-pressure situations, as well as participating in informed decision-making with the patient’s care team.

2. Empathy

This is another essential skill. Nursing staff must have a compassionate attitude towards their co-workers, patients and their families.

It is essential to understand the suffering of patients and identify with their situation to make a bleak and stressful circumstance more bearable.

3. Excellent communication skills

Communication is key in any profession, but it is particularly important when treatment and care plans need to be clearly communicated. Furthermore, it is crucial in delivering bad news to patients and their families and, at the same time, reassuring them.

The nursing staff must adapt their expressions depending on the interlocutors, for example:

• Elderly patients. Older patients can easily become confused and panic. Staying calm and speaking calmly is key.

• Young patients. Children and adults may not understand what is happening to them, which can make them feel angry or frustrated. Nursing staff must ensure that they explain in detail all aspects of the condition they are suffering from in plain terms and use jargon only when absolutely necessary.

• Relatives. It is very difficult to find out that our loved ones are sick. Many family members refuse to accept reality, especially when it comes to deadly illnesses. Conveying compassion and giving them time to reflect and accept the situation is essential.

4. Adaptability

All patients are unique, so nursing staff must be able to adapt quickly and effectively to provide individualized care for each person.

5. Ability to prioritize

Nursing staff should rank each activity in order of importance and prioritize according to urgency. On a shift, they could be dealing with life-threatening emergencies for patients, so failing to prioritize well could be heartbreaking.

Central aspects of a CV for nursing staff

Now that you know more about the profession, let’s dive into how to write a standout nursing CV.

Format

Design your CV as you would develop a patient care plan, paying attention to every detail.

In order for your CV to stand out from the other applicants, make sure you comply with the following:

• Use a reverse chronological format, as it is easier to read and allows you to highlight your experience and skills.

• Structure your resume with clearly defined sections, use bold and underline the data you want to emphasize.

• Make sure the white space or negative space is in a similar proportion to the wording, as this will focus the recruiter’s attention on the text.

• Use typography with high legibility so that the person in charge of recruiting personnel does not divert their attention due to a distracting font.

• Limit yourself to one page, if possible, and never more than two, unless it is unavoidable.

key sections

Make sure these sections are not missing from your CV:

1. Professional objective. Write down a career goal , especially if you just graduated and are just starting your career.

2. Professional profile. Incorporate a professional profile if you have extensive experience, highlight the skills that best match the job description you want to achieve, and add significant results when providing care to patients.

3. Experience. List only the most relevant jobs to make your resume more relevant to the opening. Don’t forget to include the name of the institution, the contact information of your immediate superior, and the start and end dates of your internship.

4. Training. Include the majors and the name of the professional titles you have achieved and, again, adapt this information to the job description.

5. Skills. Incorporating the relevant skills for the position you are seeking is of vital importance. Skip the ones that are not relevant and include your hard and soft skills.

6. Certificates. If, in addition to your formal academic training, you have specializations or have taken professional education courses, do not forget to detail them.