Top 12 Patient Care Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume
As a Patient Care Technician, the skills you show can tilt the room in your favor. Clear, hands-on abilities. Calm judgment. Safe technique. The right mix helps you care well and get noticed. Below, twelve core skills that speak loudly on a resume and even louder at the bedside.
Patient Care Technician Skills
- Phlebotomy
- EKG/ECG
- CPR/BLS
- Vital Signs
- Dialysis Support
- Wound Care
- Patient Bathing
- Glucose Monitoring
- EMR (Electronic Medical Records)
- HIPAA Compliance
- Infection Control
- Specimen Collection
1. Phlebotomy
Phlebotomy is venipuncture—safely puncturing a vein to collect blood for tests, transfusions, or donations. It’s precision plus people skills, rolled into one steady moment.
Why It's Important
Accurate blood collection drives diagnosis, tracks treatment, and reduces redraws. Good sticks mean less pain, fewer delays, better trust.
How to Improve Phlebotomy Skills
Master anatomy and site choice: Vein selection matters. Start with median cubital when appropriate; avoid areas with edema, fistulas, or infection.
Refine technique: Anchor well, bevel up, smooth entry. Use the right needle and collection system for the patient and the test.
Order of draw, every time: Prevent cross-contamination and hemolysis. Label at the bedside before you walk away.
Reduce pre-analytical errors: Proper patient ID using two identifiers, correct tubes, adequate fill volume, gentle inversion.
Calm communication: Explain the process, coach breathing, recognize fainting risks, and reposition as needed.
Seek feedback and practice: Simulation, supervised reps, and post-collection review—small tweaks add up.
How to Display Phlebotomy Skills on Your Resume
2. EKG/ECG
ECG/EKG captures the heart’s electrical story—rhythm, rate, conduction quirks—so providers can act fast and accurately.
Why It's Important
Clean tracings shave off guesswork. Quick recognition of changes can steer time-sensitive care.
How to Improve EKG/ECG Skills
Prep the skin: Clean, dry, and gently abrade if needed. Clip excess hair. Good contact, fewer artifacts.
Place leads precisely: V1 4th ICS right sternal border; V2 4th ICS left sternal border; V4 5th ICS midclavicular; V3 between V2–V4; V5 anterior axillary; V6 midaxillary. Limb leads on limbs or appropriate torso spots per facility policy.
Minimize noise: Ask for stillness, warm shivering patients, manage cable tension, avoid nearby electrical interference.
Verify calibration and filters: Standard speed and gain. Check paper speed and amplitude before printing.
Recheck abnormal or noisy leads: One poor lead can mimic pathology. Reposition and repeat when in doubt.
Document symptoms and context: Chest pain onset, dizziness, meds, and activity—context helps interpretation.
How to Display EKG/ECG Skills on Your Resume
3. CPR/BLS
CPR/BLS means hard, fast compressions and smart teamwork while help is en route. It buys time and can save a life.
Why It's Important
High‑quality CPR keeps blood moving to the brain and heart. Seconds mean something.
How to Improve CPR/BLS Skills
Refresh regularly: Practice on manikins with feedback for depth, rate, and recoil.
Own your role in a code: Switch compressors every two minutes, call rhythms and times, and communicate out loud.
Use AEDs decisively: Power on, follow prompts, clear before shock, resume compressions fast.
Train for real settings: Space constraints, bariatric patients, beds at awkward heights—rehearse it all.
Keep calm gear-ready: Bag-valve masks sized right, suction set, oxygen working. Readiness trims delays.
How to Display CPR/BLS Skills on Your Resume
4. Vital Signs
Vital signs are the quick pulse check on health: temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation—trends tell the tale.
Why It's Important
Early changes whisper before alarms scream. Consistent, accurate measures guide timely action.
How to Improve Vital Signs Skills
Get the setup right: Rest the patient, correct position, proper cuff size at heart level, no talking during BP.
Measure with intention: Count apical or radial pulse long enough for irregular rhythms; watch full respiratory cycles without tipping off the patient.
Validate outliers: Recheck abnormal readings manually when possible, verify sensor placement, and compare bilaterally if indicated.
Mind the equipment: Calibrate, charge, and disinfect devices. Replace worn cuffs and sensors.
Trend and report: Document time-stamped numbers, note patient condition, and escalate when the trend dips or spikes.
How to Display Vital Signs Skills on Your Resume
5. Dialysis Support
Dialysis support blends technical setup, vigilant monitoring, and gentle patient care before, during, and after treatment under clinical supervision.
Why It's Important
Patients rely on safe circulation through complex machines. Careful eyes catch problems early and keep the session steady.
How to Improve Dialysis Support Skills
Prepare with purpose: Verify orders, dialyzer, lines, and machine checks. Confirm water treatment parameters per policy.
Protect the access: Aseptic technique for fistulas, grafts, and catheters. Assess thrill/bruit, rotate sites, secure lines well.
Monitor like a hawk: Track vitals, ultrafiltration goals, and patient symptoms. Act on cramps, hypotension, or access alarms quickly.
Comfort and education: Explain steps, position for ease, manage warmth, and reinforce care of access at home.
Debrief and document: Intake/output, complications, interventions—tight records support safer future runs.
How to Display Dialysis Support Skills on Your Resume
6. Wound Care
Wound care means assessing, cleaning, dressing, and protecting tissue so it can heal—clean hands, clean field, consistent follow-through.
Why It's Important
Proper care prevents infection, controls moisture, and speeds recovery. Comfort improves, complications drop.
How to Improve Wound Care Skills
Hygiene first: Hand hygiene, gloves, and a clean setup every single time.
Assess with detail: Measure size, depth, exudate, odor, surrounding skin, and pain. Note changes promptly.
Right dressing, right time: Choose for moisture balance and exudate level. Pack gently when ordered. Secure without skin trauma.
Protect the edges: Use barrier films or creams to guard periwound skin from maceration or stripping.
Reduce pressure and shear: Reposition, offload heels, and use support surfaces as directed.
Teach basics: Keep it clean and dry as ordered, recognize red flags (spreading redness, fever, odor), and report fast.
Document precisely: Wound descriptors, products used, tolerance, and response—consistency reveals progress.
How to Display Wound Care Skills on Your Resume
7. Patient Bathing
Bathing support preserves dignity and skin health. It’s intimate work: gentle, efficient, respectful.
Why It's Important
Clean skin lowers infection risk, boosts comfort, and gives a moment to spot new issues—rashes, redness, devices under strain.
How to Improve Patient Bathing Skills
Set the stage: Gather supplies first. Warm room, warm water, safe footing, privacy ensured.
Explain and obtain consent: Step-by-step, check preferences, move at a pace the patient can handle.
Top-to-bottom flow: Clean to dirty, front to back. Protect lines, drains, dressings as ordered.
Skin care: Pat dry, moisturize dry areas, avoid heavy lotions near medical devices.
Safety throughout: Non-slip mats, call light within reach, proper body mechanics for you and the patient.
Finish well: Fresh linens, comfortable positioning, tidy space, and clear documentation of skin findings.
How to Display Patient Bathing Skills on Your Resume
8. Glucose Monitoring
Glucose checks track blood sugar so treatment can be adjusted quickly—fingersticks or continuous systems, depending on the setting.
Why It's Important
Hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia turn fast. Reliable numbers keep patients safe and care on target.
How to Improve Glucose Monitoring Skills
Follow policy to the letter: Quality control checks, control solutions, and meter calibration as scheduled.
Prep well: Warm the finger, clean and dry, use the side of the fingertip, and avoid squeezing excessively to prevent dilution errors.
Validate unexpected values: Recheck abnormal readings, confirm with lab when indicated, and assess for symptoms.
Time it right: Coordinate with meals, insulin, and tube feeds; note steroid dosing or NPO status when trending data.
Document promptly: Record value, timing, actions taken, and patient response. Escalate per protocol.
How to Display Glucose Monitoring Skills on Your Resume
9. EMR (Electronic Medical Records)
EMRs store the patient story—diagnoses, meds, orders, labs, notes—so the team can coordinate without guesswork.
Why It's Important
Accurate, timely entries reduce errors, sharpen communication, and keep care moving without friction.
How to Improve EMR (Electronic Medical Records) Skills
Train deeply: Learn shortcuts, templates, and smart phrases—and when not to use them.
Enter clean data: Standard abbreviations, correct patient, date, and time. Avoid copy-forward mistakes.
Close the loop: Reconcile vitals, I&O, and tasks. Flag critical results fast.
Protect access: Unique logins only, lock screens, and follow least-necessary-information rules.
Audit yourself: Review your own notes for clarity and completeness; fix errors quickly.
How to Display EMR (Electronic Medical Records) Skills on Your Resume
10. HIPAA Compliance
HIPAA compliance means guarding patient information—spoken, written, or electronic. Privacy and security, all day long.
Why It's Important
Trust hinges on confidentiality. So does the law. Patients deserve both.
How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills
Know the rules: Privacy, security, and minimum necessary—review them routinely.
Control access: Verify identity before sharing info. Don’t discuss PHI in public spaces.
Handle records safely: Face-down papers, secure shredding, logged-out screens, encrypted messaging where required.
Report fast: Suspected breaches or misdirected information—escalate immediately.
Practice discretion: Only what’s needed, only to those who need it, only when appropriate.
How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume
11. Infection Control
Infection control is the everyday shield: hand hygiene, PPE, cleaning, sharps safety, and isolation precautions handled correctly.
Why It's Important
It protects patients and staff, curbs outbreaks, and keeps care settings safe. Small lapses, big consequences.
How to Improve Infection Control Skills
Hand hygiene without shortcuts: Before and after patient contact, after glove removal, after body fluid exposure, before aseptic tasks.
PPE with purpose: Don and doff in the right order; match PPE to transmission-based precautions.
Clean what you touch: High-touch surfaces and shared equipment disinfected between patients, labeled and stored properly.
Sharps safety: No recapping, use puncture-proof containers, report sticks immediately.
Isolation done right: Understand contact, droplet, airborne protocols and signage; cluster care to limit exposure.
How to Display Infection Control Skills on Your Resume
12. Specimen Collection
Specimen collection captures the right sample, at the right time, in the right container—so the lab can deliver answers you can trust.
Why It's Important
Clean collection reduces redraws, contamination, and diagnostic delays. Quality in, quality out.
How to Improve Specimen Collection Skills
Confirm identity without fail: Two identifiers, then label at bedside with time and source.
Follow procedure specifics: Correct order of draw, proper containers, volume limits, and timing (fasting, troughs, timed urines).
Prevent contamination: Aseptic technique, midstream instructions for urine, proper sputum (not saliva) coaching.
Preserve integrity: Temperature control, light protection, prompt transport, and documented chain of custody when required.
Know rejection criteria: Hemolysis, insufficient volume, mislabeled, wrong container—catch and correct quickly.
Communicate clearly: Explain steps, manage discomfort, and relay special handling to the lab.
How to Display Specimen Collection Skills on Your Resume
