Top 12 Graduate Nurse Skills to Put on Your Resume
Crafting a standout resume as a graduate nurse means spotlighting a mix of clinical know-how and people skills that prove you’re ready for real-world care. Naming and describing the right strengths signals you can deliver safe patient care, think on your feet, and work fluidly with the team.
Graduate Nurse Skills
- Patient Assessment
- IV Insertion
- Wound Care
- Electronic Health Records (EHR)
- Medication Administration
- CPR Certified
- Patient Education
- Vital Signs Monitoring
- Infection Control
- Phlebotomy
- ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support)
- BLS (Basic Life Support)
1. Patient Assessment
Patient assessment is a structured way to gather a whole picture of a person’s health—history, exam findings, psychosocial context, and test data—so you can identify needs, set priorities, plan care, and evaluate what’s working. It’s the bedrock of safe, individualized nursing.
Why It's Important
Strong assessments catch problems early, sharpen clinical decisions, and steer the care plan. Without a solid assessment, everything else wobbles.
How to Improve Patient Assessment Skills
Build depth through repetition, reflection, and targeted practice.
Sharpen observation: Scan for subtle cues—work of breathing, skin tone, affect, posture. Tiny shifts matter.
Strengthen communication: Use open-ended questions, pause for silence, practice teach-back. The Institute for Healthcare Communication offers useful guidance.
Anchor in evidence: Check current clinical guidelines and summaries from reputable sources like Cochrane reviews and specialty societies.
Use simulation: Run focused drills (neuro checks, lung/heart sounds, delirium screening) and debrief every time.
Invite feedback: Ask preceptors what you missed, what you nailed, and what to refine next shift.
Keep learning: Conferences, case rounds, and CE courses keep your mental models fresh. Nurse.com and similar platforms can help.
Lean on professional communities: Organizations such as the American Nurses Association provide tools, standards, and mentorship pathways.
How to Display Patient Assessment Skills on Your Resume
2. IV Insertion
IV insertion is gaining reliable venous access to deliver fluids, medications, or draw blood. It demands vein selection savvy, aseptic technique, patient reassurance, and steady hands.
Why It's Important
Timely IV access can be the difference between delay and decisive care. It’s a daily, foundational procedure across units.
How to Improve IV Insertion Skills
Know your anatomy: Map common sites, understand depth and direction, feel before you see.
Tourniquet technique: Snug, not strangling. Reassess if veins flatten or the patient reports discomfort.
Calm presence: Explain what you’re doing; coach deep breaths. Confidence steadies you and the patient.
Simulation first: Warm up on task trainers; then progress under supervision at the bedside.
Debrief every attempt: What vein, what angle, what gauge—document patterns, ask mentors for micro-tweaks.
Follow current standards: The Infusion Nurses Society and similar bodies publish practical guidance and updates.
How to Display IV Insertion Skills on Your Resume
3. Wound Care
Wound care blends assessment, cleansing, dressing selection, and escalation when needed. Acute vs. chronic, arterial vs. venous, pressure injuries vs. surgical sites—matching treatment to type accelerates healing and averts infection.
Why It's Important
Good wound care reduces pain, prevents complications, and speeds recovery. It’s meticulous work that pays off in fewer readmissions and happier patients.
How to Improve Wound Care Skills
Study wound types: Learn staging, exudate characteristics, and tissue appearance to tailor interventions.
Assess with structure: Measure, photograph per policy, and track trends; document precisely.
Follow evidence: Use best-practice guidance from groups like WOCN and NICE; refresh your approach as recommendations evolve.
Prevent infection: Clean technique, appropriate dressing changes, and timely cultures if deterioration appears. CDC guidance is a helpful compass.
Leverage advances: Consider moisture-balancing dressings, negative-pressure therapy, and adjuncts when indicated.
Teach patients: Home care, hygiene, pressure offloading, nutrition—set them up to heal between visits.
How to Display Wound Care Skills on Your Resume
4. Electronic Health Records (EHR)
EHRs are real-time digital charts that hold histories, meds, allergies, orders, labs, imaging, and care plans. Used well, they knit the team together and cut errors.
Why It's Important
EHR proficiency speeds documentation, sharpens clinical decisions, reduces medication mistakes, and frees time for patients. Clean data in; safer care out.
How to Improve Electronic Health Records (EHR) Skills
Master navigation: Learn shortcuts, favorites, order sets, and smart phrases to cut clicks.
Document with clarity: Chart in real time, use structured fields wisely, avoid copy-forward pitfalls.
Reconcile relentlessly: Meds, allergies, and problem lists—keep them current every encounter.
Use decision support: Heed alerts judiciously, adjust workflows to reduce alert fatigue without missing safety signals.
Protect privacy: Follow HIPAA, lock screens, verify recipients, and report any suspected breaches immediately.
Practice in a sandbox: If offered, rehearse orders, notes, and discharge workflows before going live.
Seek feedback: Ask super-users and informatics nurses to review your templates and habits.
How to Display Electronic Health Records (EHR) Skills on Your Resume
5. Medication Administration
Medication administration means verifying orders, preparing the right drug and dose, choosing the correct route and timing, giving it safely, then monitoring and documenting effects. Vigilance is everything.
Why It's Important
Safe medication practices prevent harm and drive better outcomes. Precision here isn’t optional.
How to Improve Medication Administration Skills
Know your meds: Pharmacology fundamentals, common interactions, high-alert drugs—refresh often with trusted CE resources.
Stick to the rights: Right patient, medication, dose, time, route, indication, and documentation—every time.
Use technology: Bar-code scanning, EHR order sets, and clinical decision support reduce error risk.
Simulate scenarios: Practice IV pushes, titrations, and double-checks in a controlled setting; debrief misses.
Mentored practice: Ask seasoned nurses to shadow complex administrations and critique your workflow.
How to Display Medication Administration Skills on Your Resume
6. CPR Certified
CPR certification verifies you can deliver high-quality chest compressions, ventilations, and early defibrillation when cardiac arrest strikes. It’s lifesaving literacy.
Why It's Important
Early, effective CPR doubles or triples survival in many cases. Being ready isn’t negotiable in clinical care.
How to Improve CPR Certified Skills
Review updates: Check current recommendations from groups like the American Heart Association and the Red Cross.
Drill the basics: Depth, rate, recoil, minimal pauses—practice on manikins until it’s automatic.
Advance your training: Consider ACLS or PALS to deepen algorithms and teamwork skills.
Run mock codes: Join unit drills to hone leadership, role clarity, and timing under pressure.
Seek debriefs: After real events or simulations, gather metrics and feedback; refine quickly.
Renew on time: Most cards expire every two years; don’t let yours lapse.
How to Display CPR Certified Skills on Your Resume
7. Patient Education
Patient education translates complex health info into clear, actionable steps patients can follow at home. It boosts safety, adherence, and confidence.
Why It's Important
When patients understand the plan, outcomes improve. Teaching well shrinks readmissions and builds trust.
How to Improve Patient Education Skills
Match learning styles: Visuals, demonstrations, plain language—customize and verify understanding.
Use teach-back: Ask patients to explain the plan in their own words; fix gaps immediately.
Offer take-home materials: Handouts, videos, and simple checklists keep learning going after discharge.
Listen first: Let concerns surface; tailor content to what matters most to them.
Stay current: Keep your content aligned with up-to-date guidance and patient-friendly resources.
Collect feedback: Short surveys or quick questions reveal what’s landing—and what’s not.
How to Display Patient Education Skills on Your Resume
8. Vital Signs Monitoring
Vital signs—temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, and often SpO2 and pain—are the body’s dashboard. Trends tell the tale.
Why It's Important
Accurate, timely vitals catch deterioration early and prompt swift intervention. Small numbers, big implications.
How to Improve Vital Signs Monitoring Skills
Measure precisely: Use properly sized cuffs, confirm abnormal readings manually, and calibrate equipment routinely. Groups like the American Heart Association publish solid techniques.
Time it right: Increase frequency for unstable patients; don’t let schedules override clinical judgment.
Think in trends: One-off values mislead—graph changes and act on patterns.
Communicate clearly: Escalate concerning changes with SBAR; document context (position, activity, oxygen delivery).
Keep learning: Explore new monitoring tools and telemetry practices through CE resources like Nurse.com.
How to Display Vital Signs Monitoring Skills on Your Resume
9. Infection Control
Infection control bundles hand hygiene, PPE, safe injections, and cleaning/sterilization into daily practice to protect patients and staff. Consistency beats complexity.
Why It's Important
It prevents transmission, protects vulnerable people, and supports high-reliability care. One lax moment can ripple.
How to Improve Infection Control Skills
Hand hygiene first: Wash or sanitize at the five moments; audit yourself ruthlessly.
Right PPE, right time: Donning/doffing sequences matter. Follow CDC/WHO-recommended steps and facility policy.
Stay updated: Review current isolation precautions, device bundles, and local antibiograms.
Vaccinate: Maintain recommended immunizations for healthcare personnel.
Environmental rigor: Clean high-touch surfaces and shared equipment correctly; label and store supplies properly.
Safe injections: Aseptic prep, single-use only, sharps safety without shortcuts.
Train and report: Join in-services, complete annual competencies, and report exposures immediately.
How to Display Infection Control Skills on Your Resume
10. Phlebotomy
Phlebotomy is drawing blood safely and efficiently for tests, transfusions, or treatment. Technique, patient comfort, and specimen integrity all count.
Why It's Important
Accurate labs guide diagnoses and therapies. Smooth draws build trust and spare patients repeat sticks.
How to Improve Phlebotomy Skills
Practice often: Start with simulation, then progress to supervised venipuncture on the unit.
Know vein anatomy: Visualize pathways, palpate carefully, and choose the best site for the purpose.
Communicate: Explain the process, position comfortably, and coach through anxiety or vasovagal symptoms.
Prioritize safety: Follow bloodborne pathogen standards, label at bedside, and handle sharps meticulously.
Match tubes and order of draw: Prevent hemolysis and cross-contamination; verify requirements for specific tests.
Seek feedback: Review misses and near misses with experienced colleagues; fine-tune grip, angle, and anchoring.
How to Display Phlebotomy Skills on Your Resume
11. ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support)
ACLS extends basic resuscitation with algorithms, advanced airways, cardiac meds, and post-arrest care. It’s team-based, time-sensitive, and algorithm-driven.
Why It's Important
It equips you to act decisively during cardiac emergencies—coordinating roles, interpreting rhythms, and delivering the next right intervention fast.
How to Improve ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) Skills
Know the algorithms cold: PEA vs. VT/VF vs. brady/tachy with a pulse—recognize paths instantly.
Train formally: Complete an accredited course (AHA/Red Cross) and renew on schedule.
Simulate often: Rotate roles—compressor, airway, meds, team lead—to build flexibility and communication.
Review pharmacology: Doses, indications, contraindications—no guesswork under stress.
Debrief data: Use code summaries (compression fraction, shock times) to target improvements.
Stay current: Follow updates from reputable cardiac and resuscitation societies.
How to Display ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) Skills on Your Resume
12. BLS (Basic Life Support)
BLS covers the essentials: airway, breathing, circulation—CPR and AED use—until advanced care arrives. Simple steps, huge impact.
Why It's Important
BLS is the frontline response to cardiac arrest, choking, and respiratory failure. Immediate action saves lives.
How to Improve BLS (Basic Life Support) Skills
Refresh the basics: Review current BLS guidance from recognized resuscitation organizations.
Hands-on practice: Use manikins to perfect compression depth, rate, recoil, and ventilation technique.
Use scenarios: Short, frequent drills beat infrequent marathons; practice adult, child, and infant cases.
Learn with peers: Switch roles, time cycles, and coach each other for tighter performance.
Measure and improve: If available, use feedback devices to track compression quality and adjust in real time.
Keep informed: Skim credible journals and updates to stay aligned with evolving best practices.
How to Display BLS (Basic Life Support) Skills on Your Resume
