Top 12 Certified Nurse Assistant Skills to Put on Your Resume
Crafting an impressive resume as a Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) means showing the skills that prove you’re steady, safe, and patient-centered. The right mix signals you can communicate, notice the small changes, and keep care moving without chaos. Below are the top 12 skills CNAs use every day—clear, current, and practical.
Certified Nurse Assistant Skills
- Patient Care
- Vital Signs
- CPR Certified
- EHR (Electronic Health Records)
- HIPAA Compliance
- Wound Dressing
- Infection Control
- ADL Support
- Phlebotomy
- Medication Administration
- Mobility Assistance
- Charting Software
1. Patient Care
Patient care is the heartbeat of CNA work: helping with daily needs, safety, comfort, and dignity while supporting the nursing team’s plan of care.
Why It's Important
Great patient care reduces complications, builds trust, and speeds recovery. It anchors teamwork and gives families confidence that their loved one is seen, heard, and safe.
How to Improve Patient Care Skills
Make the basics sharp and the soft skills sharper:
Communicate simply and often: introduce yourself, explain what you’re doing, confirm understanding, listen for worries between the lines.
Observe and report: note subtle changes—appetite, mood, skin color, swelling, pain cues—and relay them promptly.
Infection control every time: hand hygiene, appropriate PPE, clean equipment, clean environment.
Comfort and safety: call light in reach, bed low and locked, non-slip socks, repositioning, timely toileting.
Trauma‑informed, culturally aware care: ask preferences, offer choices, preserve privacy, use the patient’s name.
Time management: cluster care, anticipate needs, prioritize by acuity, document in real time.
Boundaries and teamwork: know your scope, seek guidance, support colleagues, escalate concerns early.
How to Display Patient Care Skills on Your Resume
2. Vital Signs
CNAs measure and trend core indicators: temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, and commonly oxygen saturation. Pain scores and blood glucose checks may also be part of the workflow in some settings.
Why It's Important
Vitals are early warning lights. Accurate numbers—and noticing when they drift—can trigger timely interventions and prevent decline.
How to Improve Vital Signs Skills
Technique matters: correct cuff size and arm position; patient seated and rested; manual recheck when readings look off.
Consistency: use the same site and method when possible; measure after rest, not exertion.
Device know‑how: verify equipment is charged, calibrated, and cleaned; replace probe covers; recognize artifact.
Respirations done right: count without alerting the patient so pattern and rate remain natural.
Trend and tell: compare to baseline, note orthostatic changes, and report variances immediately.
Know normal ranges: adjust expectations by age, condition, and orders; document clearly and promptly.
How to Display Vital Signs Skills on Your Resume
3. CPR Certified
CPR certification (typically BLS for Healthcare Providers) shows you’re trained to respond to cardiac and respiratory emergencies using compressions, ventilations, and an AED.
Why It's Important
In a true emergency, seconds are precious. BLS skills keep oxygen moving to the brain and heart until advanced care arrives.
How to Improve CPR Certified Skills
Refresh regularly: renew BLS on schedule and practice compressions on manikins to maintain quality.
High‑quality compressions: rate 100–120/min, adequate depth with full recoil, minimal interruptions, early AED use.
Team choreography: assign roles quickly, switch compressors every two minutes, speak clearly under pressure.
Scenario practice: run mock codes on your unit so muscle memory kicks in when it counts.
Scope awareness: BLS is typically sufficient for CNAs; advanced courses like ACLS are generally not required for this role.
How to Display CPR Certified Skills on Your Resume
4. EHR (Electronic Health Records)
EHRs store patient histories, orders, allergies, results, and daily care notes so the whole team can coordinate in real time.
Why It's Important
Clean, timely entries prevent errors, keep plans aligned, and make handoffs smoother.
How to Improve EHR (Electronic Health Records) Skills
Train with purpose: learn unit‑specific workflows, required fields, and smart phrases you’re allowed to use.
Chart what you see: objective, concise, time‑stamped, no guessing, no copy‑forward without verification.
Work efficiently: use templates, favorites, and shortcuts approved by your facility; document at bedside when appropriate.
Privacy first: screen lock, correct patient chart, minimum necessary information, mindful conversations.
Downtime ready: know paper backup steps and where to file records when systems pause.
How to Display EHR (Electronic Health Records) Skills on Your Resume
5. HIPAA Compliance
HIPAA compliance means guarding Protected Health Information (PHI)—spoken, written, or electronic—so privacy and trust stay intact.
Why It's Important
It’s the law, and it’s the right thing to do. Patients share sensitive details; we protect them without fail.
How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills
Know PHI: what it is, who can access it, and when you must not share.
Minimum necessary: disclose only what’s required to do the job.
Secure habits: clean desk, badge awareness, locked screens, correct shred bins, correct chart.
Quiet conversations: discuss patient info out of earshot; verify identity before discussing details by phone.
Watch for phishing: don’t click unknown links; report suspicious emails and any privacy incidents immediately.
How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume
6. Wound Dressing
Wound care covers cleaning, covering, and protecting wounds to promote healing and prevent infection. CNAs typically assist by gathering supplies, maintaining cleanliness, reinforcing dressings if permitted, and observing and reporting changes. Sterile dressing changes are usually performed by licensed nurses unless your facility and state allow otherwise.
Why It's Important
The right dressing, applied cleanly and monitored closely, keeps tissue healing and complications at bay.
How to Improve Wound Dressing Skills
Hygiene and PPE: hand hygiene before and after, gloves and other PPE as ordered, clean field, safe disposal.
Assess and report: drainage amount and color, odor, size, surrounding skin, pain—document trends, escalate red flags (fever, spreading redness, increasing pain).
Right supplies: gather materials in advance; use dressings per order (don’t substitute without direction).
Respect orders: do not remove first post‑op dressings or packed dressings unless a nurse directs you.
Comfort first: explain steps, pace yourself, coordinate with pain management as appropriate.
How to Display Wound Dressing Skills on Your Resume
7. Infection Control
Infection control bundles policies and everyday behaviors that prevent transmission of pathogens across patients, staff, and visitors.
Why It's Important
It protects the vulnerable, reduces outbreaks, and keeps units open and safe.
How to Improve Infection Control Skills
Hand hygiene every time: the five moments—before touching a patient, before aseptic tasks, after body fluid exposure, after touching a patient, after touching patient surroundings.
PPE done right: proper donning and doffing order; choose gloves, masks, gowns, and eye protection based on transmission‑based precautions.
Clean and disinfect: high‑touch surfaces and shared equipment between patients; respect contact times on disinfectants.
Safe sharps and waste: point‑of‑use disposal, never recap, report needle sticks immediately.
Respiratory etiquette: cough hygiene, masks when indicated, room placement and cohorting when required.
Stay current: follow facility policies and current guidance; keep vaccinations up to date if required.
How to Display Infection Control Skills on Your Resume
8. ADL Support
ADL support means helping with bathing, dressing, grooming, eating, toileting, and mobility—while guarding independence and dignity.
Why It's Important
These are the essentials of living. Getting them right improves comfort, mood, and health outcomes.
How to Improve ADL Support Skills
Person‑centered routines: align care with preferences and usual habits; offer choices to maintain control.
Safety first: safe water temps, call light in reach, non‑slip footwear, privacy screens, proper lighting.
Cueing before doing: verbal prompts and set‑up help preserve abilities; step in only as needed.
Skin protection: regular repositioning, moisture control, barrier creams, pressure offloading.
Nourishment and hydration: upright positioning, aspiration precautions if ordered, track intake and report concerns.
Toileting plans: scheduled assistance to reduce incontinence and skin breakdown.
How to Display ADL Support Skills on Your Resume
9. Phlebotomy
Phlebotomy involves drawing blood for tests, transfusions, or monitoring. It is not part of every CNA’s scope; permission depends on state regulations, facility policy, and specific training or certification. When not performing draws, CNAs often support by preparing the patient, labeling specimens, and ensuring safe transport.
Why It's Important
Accurate blood collection underpins diagnosis and treatment decisions. Errors can ripple into delays, redraws, or mismanagement.
How to Improve Phlebotomy Skills
Know your scope: confirm you’re allowed and trained before performing venipuncture.
Patient ID every time: two identifiers, match labels at bedside, document time and site.
Technique: vein selection, proper angle and depth, correct order of draw, gentle tube inversion to avoid hemolysis.
Safety: sharps precautions, immediate disposal, adequate post‑draw pressure to prevent hematoma.
Avoid problem sites: no draws above running IVs, avoid edematous or compromised limbs unless directed.
How to Display Phlebotomy Skills on Your Resume
10. Medication Administration
CNAs generally do not administer medications independently. In some states and settings, CNAs with additional credentials (such as Certified Medication Aide/Technician) may administer or assist per policy and under nurse supervision. Always follow state law, facility policy, and your scope.
Why It's Important
When assisting within scope, precise processes prevent errors and keep patients safe.
How to Improve Medication Administration Skills
Know the “rights”: right patient, medication, dose, route, time, documentation—and right to refuse.
eMAR savvy: scan when available, match labels carefully, clarify any mismatch before giving.
Never assume: do not crush, split, or substitute without explicit instruction; clarify unclear orders with the nurse.
Monitor and report: observe for side effects, effectiveness, and refusals; document and notify promptly.
Storage and safety: secure meds, check expirations, follow handling precautions.
How to Display Medication Administration Skills on Your Resume
11. Mobility Assistance
Mobility assistance helps patients move safely—bed to chair, ambulation, repositioning—while guarding joints, skin, and confidence.
Why It's Important
Movement prevents deconditioning, pressure injuries, and clots. It restores independence one careful step at a time.
How to Improve Mobility Assistance Skills
Body mechanics: wide base, neutral spine, bend at knees, keep loads close, avoid twisting.
Right device, right time: gait belts, walkers, canes, slide boards, mechanical lifts—use per training and policy.
Assess before you assist: dizziness, pain, lines and drains, footwear, orthostatic vitals if needed.
Fall prevention: clear the path, brakes on, call light within reach, educate the patient to call before rising.
Progressive mobility: small wins—dangling, standing, a few steps—then build as tolerated.
How to Display Mobility Assistance Skills on Your Resume
12. Charting Software
Charting tools let CNAs record vitals, intake/output, hygiene, mobility, and observations quickly and accurately.
Why It's Important
Clear documentation tells the patient’s story across shifts and disciplines, reducing errors and guesswork.
How to Improve Charting Software Skills
Chart promptly: document soon after tasks so details don’t fade.
Be objective: avoid assumptions; describe behaviors and measurements, not judgments.
Use approved terms: stick to facility‑approved abbreviations and templates.
Signal urgency: escalate critical findings verbally first, then document.
Learn shortcuts: favorites, macros, and flowsheets can speed accuracy when used correctly.
How to Display Charting Software Skills on Your Resume
