Top 12 Nursing Assistant Skills to Put on Your Resume
In a crowded healthcare landscape, a nursing assistant’s resume earns attention when it shows real, tangible skills—hands-on clinical know-how tied tightly to calm, compassionate patient care. Make your strengths unmistakable. Demonstrate you can keep patients safe, comfortable, and moving forward, while working smoothly inside fast, high-stakes environments.
Nursing Assistant Skills
- CPR Certified
- Vital Signs Monitoring
- Patient Hygiene
- Wound Care
- HIPAA Compliance
- Electronic Health Records (EHR)
- Medication Administration
- Patient Transport
- Infection Control
- Phlebotomy
- Basic Life Support (BLS)
- ADL Assistance
1. CPR Certified
CPR certification confirms you’re trained to respond to cardiac and breathing emergencies with effective compressions, ventilations, and AED use. Quick action. Steady hands. Clear thinking when seconds get loud.
Why It's Important
When a heart stops, early CPR keeps oxygen moving and buys precious time. For patients, it can mean brain protection and survival. For teams, it signals you’re ready to step in without hesitation.
How to Improve CPR Certified Skills
Practice on feedback manikins to dial in depth, rate, recoil, and minimal pauses.
Run frequent scenario drills—single rescuer, team-based, airway complications, tight spaces.
Refresh every two years (or sooner). Skills fade; muscle memory wins.
Get fluent with AED prompts and pad placement on adult, child, and infant patients.
After mock codes, debrief. What slowed you down? Fix that bottleneck.
How to Display CPR Certified Skills on Your Resume
2. Vital Signs Monitoring
Regularly capturing temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, oxygen saturation—and making sense of the trend, not just the single number. Small changes whisper before they shout.
Why It's Important
Vital signs flag deterioration early, guide interventions, and anchor clinical decisions. Accurate measurements prevent false alarms and missed warnings.
How to Improve Vital Signs Monitoring Skills
Use the right tools: correct BP cuff size, properly calibrated devices, patient positioned and rested.
Measure thoughtfully: orthostatic BPs, apical versus radial discrepancies, irregular rhythms that need rechecks.
Document in real time—date, time, position, device—so the record tells the whole story.
Spot trends; don’t ignore deltas from baseline. Escalate promptly per facility protocol.
Reduce error: limit talking during BP, ensure the arm is supported at heart level, re-measure if results seem off.
How to Display Vital Signs Monitoring Skills on Your Resume
3. Patient Hygiene
Bathing, oral care, grooming, toileting, clean linens, and tidy spaces—delivered with dignity, comfort, and infection prevention in mind.
Why It's Important
Good hygiene prevents infections, improves comfort, protects skin, and lifts mood. Patients feel human again, not just hospitalized.
How to Improve Patient Hygiene Skills
Hand hygiene before and after every contact. Gloves on, cross-contamination out.
Prep supplies in advance: warm water, barrier creams, emollients, clean linens, trash and laundry bins in reach.
Use gentle, fragrance-free products; cleanse skin folds thoroughly; dry well to avoid maceration.
Oral care twice daily (and after emesis). Moisturize lips; clean dentures correctly.
Prevent pressure injuries: reposition at set intervals, protect bony areas, keep sheets smooth and dry.
Invite independence: cue, assist, or fully support based on ability. Dignity matters.
How to Display Patient Hygiene Skills on Your Resume
4. Wound Care
Clean technique, safe assistance with dressing changes, vigilant observation, and swift reporting. You protect the healing environment.
Why It's Important
Good wound care prevents infection, speeds healing, and reduces pain. Missed changes can snowball into complications.
How to Improve Wound Care Skills
Follow the care plan exactly—ordered solutions, dressings, schedule. No improvising outside your scope.
Observe and report: size, depth, drainage, odor, color, edges, surrounding skin, pain. Changes matter.
Maintain aseptic technique; set up a clean field; avoid unnecessary dressing exposure time.
Protect skin around the wound with barriers to prevent breakdown from moisture or tape.
Reinforce nutrition and hydration as directed; protein and fluids fuel repair.
How to Display Wound Care Skills on Your Resume
5. HIPAA Compliance
Guard patient information—spoken, written, and electronic. Privacy isn’t optional; it’s the baseline.
Why It's Important
Trust rests on confidentiality. Breaches harm patients and invite penalties. Safe information handling protects everyone.
How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills
Follow the minimum necessary rule: access only what your role requires.
Verify identity before sharing information—patient wristband, two identifiers, or authorized representative.
Keep voices low; avoid hallway and elevator conversations. Screen shields up; logout when you step away.
Secure paper records; shred according to policy. Lock carts and rooms as required.
Report suspected breaches immediately to your supervisor or privacy officer. Faster is safer.
How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume
6. Electronic Health Records (EHR)
Digital charting that captures vitals, intake/output, ADLs, observations, and tasks—accurately, promptly, and in the right place. Clean data in, clean care out.
Why It's Important
EHR entries drive decisions and communication. If it’s not documented, it didn’t happen. Precision prevents errors.
How to Improve Electronic Health Records (EHR) Skills
Learn your facility’s flowsheets and templates; use favorites and smart text to speed consistent documentation.
Chart at the bedside when possible; time-stamp accurately; avoid copy-forward unless verified.
Enter vitals and observations immediately; reconcile incomplete tasks before shift end.
Use standard abbreviations only; write notes that are objective, concise, and specific.
Ask superusers or informatics staff for tips, shortcuts, and updates when workflows change.
How to Display Electronic Health Records (EHR) Skills on Your Resume
7. Medication Administration
Scope varies by state and facility. Many CNAs do not administer medications unless trained and credentialed (e.g., Medication Aide/Tech). Within policy, you may assist with reminders, observation, and documentation, or administer under specific authorization.
Why It's Important
Medication safety is unforgiving. Accurate timing, the right medication, and vigilant monitoring prevent harm and keep treatment on track.
How to Improve Medication Administration Skills
Know your scope. If permitted to pass meds, master the five rights: right patient, medication, dose, route, and time (plus documentation and education).
Prepare in a quiet zone; avoid interruptions; double-check look-alike/sound-alike drugs per policy.
Verify allergies and recent vitals when relevant (e.g., BP before antihypertensives).
Document immediately; note refusals, side effects, and hold parameters with reasons.
If not credentialed to administer, contribute by reporting symptoms promptly and safeguarding storage and counts as assigned.
How to Display Medication Administration Skills on Your Resume
8. Patient Transport
Safe, timely movement of patients between rooms, units, testing, and procedures—without sacrificing comfort or dignity.
Why It's Important
Tests and treatments can’t wait. Good transport prevents falls, pain, and delays, keeping care moving smoothly.
How to Improve Patient Transport Skills
Assess mobility and risks before moving. Pain level, IV lines, drains, oxygen, monitors—plan the route.
Use proper devices: gait belt, wheelchair, stretcher, slide board, lift. Brakes locked. Footrests up when moving.
Communicate: explain each step; confirm destination readiness; hand off clearly on arrival.
Protect privacy with gowns and blankets; manage tubes and cords so nothing snags.
Afterward, ensure call light access, bed in lowest position, and safe setup at the new location.
How to Display Patient Transport Skills on Your Resume
9. Infection Control
Protocols and habits that block germs from hitchhiking—hand hygiene, PPE, cleaning, and smart handling of equipment and waste.
Why It's Important
Infections steal progress and extend stays. The right precautions protect the vulnerable and keep staff healthy.
How to Improve Infection Control Skills
Perform hand hygiene at every required moment; remove jewelry; keep nails short (no artificial nails if policy prohibits).
Select and sequence PPE correctly: don before entry, doff without contamination, and dispose properly.
Follow isolation precautions (standard, contact, droplet, airborne) precisely, including dedicated equipment.
Clean high-touch surfaces and equipment with the correct disinfectant and required contact time.
Vaccinations, fit testing, and symptom reporting keep you and patients safer. Don’t work sick.
How to Display Infection Control Skills on Your Resume
10. Phlebotomy
Drawing blood for labs or transfusion prep where permitted by policy and training. Calm technique, clean sticks, correctly labeled tubes—every time.
Why It's Important
Quality specimens drive accurate results. Poor technique means redraws, delays, and patient discomfort.
How to Improve Phlebotomy Skills
Study anatomy and palpation; prioritize median cubital, then cephalic, then basilic as appropriate.
Use the right angle and depth, stabilize the vein, and anchor the skin. Prevent rolling.
Follow order of draw; mix additives gently; avoid hemolysis with proper needle size and technique.
Label at the bedside with two identifiers before leaving the patient.
Communicate to reduce anxiety; position comfortably; release the tourniquet promptly.
How to Display Phlebotomy Skills on Your Resume
11. Basic Life Support (BLS)
Healthcare-level CPR with AED use and rescue breathing, delivered solo or within a team. Precision under pressure.
Why It's Important
BLS bridges the gap to advanced care. High-quality compressions and quick defibrillation swing outcomes dramatically.
How to Improve Basic Life Support (BLS) Skills
Drill high-quality compressions: 100–120/min, adequate depth, full recoil, minimal interruptions.
Practice team choreography—clear roles, loud cues, rapid switchovers, and early AED placement.
Refresher training and skill checks keep timing and technique sharp.
Simulate special scenarios: choking, opioid-related emergencies, pregnancy, pediatric cases.
Debrief after simulations to spot gaps and tighten performance.
How to Display Basic Life Support (BLS) Skills on Your Resume
12. ADL Assistance
Support with Activities of Daily Living—bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, grooming, transfers, and mobility—paced to the patient’s abilities and goals.
Why It's Important
ADLs are daily life. Preserving independence boosts dignity, function, and outcomes. Safety wraps around it all.
How to Improve ADL Assistance Skills
Follow individualized care plans; reassess as abilities change and document clearly.
Promote independence with cueing and setup first, then hands-on help as needed.
Use proper body mechanics and assistive devices to protect both patient and yourself.
Integrate skin checks, toileting schedules, and hydration into routine care.
Communicate with warmth and patience; a calm voice can turn resistance into cooperation.
Collaborate with nursing, therapy, and family to keep goals aligned and realistic.
How to Display ADL Assistance Skills on Your Resume
