Top 12 Unit Assistant Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's crowded job market, a unit assistant shines by blending sharp administrative skills with calm, people-first poise. Hiring teams look for efficiency, empathy, and teamwork—plus the tech comfort to keep a unit humming without drama. Show the mix. Prove the pace. Make it obvious you can handle the noise and the nuance.

Unit Assistant Skills

1. Multitasking
2. Prioritization
3. EMR (Electronic Medical Records)
4. HIPAA Compliance
5. Scheduling Software
6. Microsoft Office
7. Patient Care Coordination
8. Medical Terminology
9. CPR Certified
10. Data Entry
11. Communication
12. Team Collaboration

1. Multitasking

Multitasking means juggling multiple responsibilities without dropping what matters—calls, messages, records, supplies, schedules—while keeping your cool and your accuracy intact.

Why It's Important

Units move fast. Multitasking lets you respond quickly, keep patient flow steady, support the team, and prevent delays that ripple through the day.

How to Improve Multitasking Skills

1. Prioritize with intent: Use an urgency/importance grid to sort what must happen now from what can wait.

2. Time block: Group similar tasks to reduce context switching. Short bursts. Quick resets.

3. Cut noise: Silence nonessential alerts. Batch messages. Create “heads-down” windows.

4. Use simple boards: Keep a visual task board (digital or whiteboard) to track status at a glance.

5. Mindfulness moments: Brief breathing pauses sharpen focus and reduce scatter.

6. Memory aids: Checklists, note templates, and repeatable scripts prevent errors when things get hectic.

7. Tidy workspace: Labeled drawers and standardized layouts save precious seconds.

8. Delegate smartly: Hand off tasks when appropriate and follow up succinctly.

9. Keep learning: Update shortcuts, templates, and quick-reply phrases as workflows evolve.

10. Protect energy: Sleep, hydration, movement. Clarity depends on it.

How to Display Multitasking Skills on Your Resume

2. Prioritization

Prioritization is the craft of ordering tasks by urgency, risk, and impact so critical work happens first and nothing vital gets buried.

Why It's Important

It prevents bottlenecks, protects patient safety, and keeps the care team aligned—especially when plans change midstream.

How to Improve Prioritization Skills

1. Clarify goals: Know the unit’s top objectives for the shift and the week. Anchor your choices to them.

2. Sort quickly: Identify time-sensitive items, safety-related tasks, and dependencies.

3. Visual queues: Use color coding or tags (urgent, waiting on, today, backlog) to see priorities instantly.

4. Reassess often: Huddles and mid-shift check-ins help you reshuffle when reality changes.

5. Say no (politely): Push back or renegotiate when work doesn’t fit current priorities or capacity.

6. Delegate and escalate: Route tasks to the right level when timing or scope demands it.

How to Display Prioritization Skills on Your Resume

3. EMR (Electronic Medical Records)

EMR systems are digital charts containing patient histories, orders, notes, vitals, and results. Many organizations also use the broader term EHR (Electronic Health Records) to reflect data shared across settings.

Why It's Important

Accurate, timely documentation supports safe care, speeds communication, reduces errors, and lets providers act with confidence.

How to Improve EMR (Electronic Medical Records) Skills

1. Enter clean data: Verify identifiers, allergies, and orders. Small typos cause big headaches.

2. Master workflows: Learn templates, order sets, smart phrases, and shortcuts used by your unit.

3. Protect access: Strong passwords, correct sign-out behavior, and role-based permissions.

4. Support interoperability: Understand how outside records appear and how to reconcile them.

5. Audit yourself: Review charts for incomplete fields, duplicate records, or mismatched data.

6. Keep training current: New features and policy updates roll out often—stay sharp.

How to Display EMR (Electronic Medical Records) Skills on Your Resume

4. HIPAA Compliance

HIPAA compliance means safeguarding protected health information (PHI) in every form—spoken, written, digital—and following Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules without exception.

Why It's Important

Trust, safety, and the law. Breaches harm patients and organizations, and they’re preventable with good habits.

How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills

1. Know the rules: Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification basics should be second nature.

2. Use minimum necessary: Share only what’s needed, with the right person, for the right reason.

3. Lock it down: Screen privacy, secure printing, clean desks, locked cabinets, encrypted devices.

4. Control access: Unique logins, no sharing credentials, prompt logouts.

5. Report fast: Escalate suspected breaches immediately—don’t wait, don’t guess.

6. Refresh training: Regular updates and drills keep skills fresh and reduce drift.

7. Dispose safely: Shred PHI, wipe devices, follow chain-of-custody rules.

How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume

5. Scheduling Software

Scheduling tools help manage appointments, staff assignments, rooms, and resources—reducing clashes and smoothing the daily rhythm.

Why It's Important

Clean schedules cut wait times, prevent overbooking, and clarify who’s doing what, when, and where.

How to Improve Scheduling Software Skills

1. Learn the features: Templates, recurring events, conflict checks, waitlists, and holds.

2. Sync calendars: Align provider schedules, room availability, and equipment blocks.

3. Use smart views: Day, week, resource, and role-based views improve clarity.

4. Automate alerts: Reminders, confirmations, and change notifications reduce no-shows.

5. Document rules: Build scheduling protocols (lead times, buffers, priorities) into the system notes.

6. Track metrics: Monitor fill rates, no-shows, and overtime to spot patterns and fix them.

7. Keep data secure: Role-based access and careful handling of patient details.

How to Display Scheduling Software Skills on Your Resume

6. Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office (now broadly delivered as Microsoft 365) includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and related apps used for documents, data, presentations, email, and scheduling.

Why It's Important

It’s the admin toolkit. You’ll draft policies, track rosters, analyze logs, prepare briefings, and keep calendars in sync.

How to Improve Microsoft Office Skills

1. Shortcut fluency: Keyboard shortcuts and navigation tricks shave minutes off every task.

2. Quick Access Toolbar: Pin your power commands. Fewer clicks, less friction.

3. Templates and styles: Standardize headers, tables, and slide masters for clean, consistent output.

4. Excel basics and beyond: Formulas, tables, conditional formatting, data validation, simple pivots.

5. Automate with macros: Record routine steps and reduce repetitive work.

6. Collaborate live: Track changes, comments, version history, and shared files without chaos.

7. Stay updated: New features roll in often—review what’s new and practice.

8. Targeted practice: Build small, real workflows (sign-in sheets, on-call trackers, summary reports).

How to Display Microsoft Office Skills on Your Resume

7. Patient Care Coordination

Care coordination ties together appointments, orders, handoffs, records, and conversations so patients move smoothly through the system without confusion or gaps.

Why It's Important

Patients feel supported, providers stay aligned, and safety risks shrink. That’s the win.

How to Improve Patient Care Coordination Skills

1. Streamline communication: Use clear, standardized updates and close the loop on every handoff.

2. Keep records current: Update contact info, meds, orders, and follow-up plans in real time.

3. Use checklists: Discharge steps, pre-op packets, and transfer notes reduce misses.

4. Plan transitions: Clarify who owns the next step and when it happens.

5. Educate simply: Provide plain-language instructions and confirm understanding.

6. Track outcomes: Monitor delays, repeats, and callbacks to spot weak points.

How to Display Patient Care Coordination Skills on Your Resume

8. Medical Terminology

The shared language of healthcare. Terms, roots, prefixes, and suffixes that make documentation precise and team communication crisp.

Why It's Important

You’ll read orders, route messages, update charts, and translate for patients. Mistakes here can snowball.

How to Improve Medical Terminology Skills

1. Take a structured course: Build a foundation of roots, systems, and abbreviations.

2. Use flashcards: Small, frequent reviews stick best.

3. Read the real stuff: Policies, discharge summaries, lab reports—context cements meaning.

4. Practice with peers: Quiz each other; correct gently, learn quickly.

5. Build a mini glossary: Track unit-specific slang and common phrases.

6. Ask early: If a term is fuzzy, clarify before you act.

How to Display Medical Terminology Skills on Your Resume

9. CPR Certified

CPR certification confirms you can respond in a cardiac or respiratory emergency using current, recognized protocols. Many roles also require BLS.

Why It's Important

Seconds matter. Being ready can change an outcome—sometimes entirely.

How to Improve CPR Certified Skills

1. Refresh regularly: Most certifications renew every two years; schedule ahead.

2. Drill hands-on: Practice compressions, breaths, and AED use on manikins.

3. Learn the updates: Guidelines evolve—stay aligned with the latest standards.

4. Simulate scenarios: Team-based mock codes build confidence and speed.

5. Seek feedback: Ask instructors for specific pointers on depth, rate, and technique.

How to Display CPR Certified Skills on Your Resume

10. Data Entry

Data entry is careful, consistent input of information into systems and spreadsheets—fast enough to keep up, precise enough to trust.

Why It's Important

Clean data drives good decisions, smooth handoffs, and reliable reporting. Garbage in, trouble out.

How to Improve Data Entry Skills

1. Standardize: Use uniform formats, naming, and field conventions.

2. Validate: Apply drop-downs, required fields, and basic checks to reduce errors.

3. Double-check: Spot-audit entries or use peer review for high-risk items.

4. Learn shortcuts: Keyboard combos, text expansion, and templates speed things up.

5. Batch work: Enter similar records together to boost rhythm and accuracy.

6. Ergonomics: Comfortable setup lowers fatigue and mistakes.

How to Display Data Entry Skills on Your Resume

11. Communication

Clear, timely, respectful exchange of information—verbal, written, and digital—to keep people aligned and patients safe.

Why It's Important

Mistaken messages cause delays and errors. Strong communication prevents both.

How to Improve Communication Skills

1. Listen actively: Confirm understanding. Summarize short. Ask the extra question.

2. Be concise: Plain language, specific details, no ambiguity.

3. Close the loop: Confirm receipt and next steps, especially on critical items.

4. Adapt tone: Shift style for patients, clinicians, and families without losing clarity.

5. Handle conflict early: Stay calm, focus on facts, propose a path forward.

6. Document wisely: Date/time stamp, use correct channels, avoid sensitive details in the wrong places.

How to Display Communication Skills on Your Resume

12. Team Collaboration

Collaboration is coordinated effort—sharing context, adjusting roles, and backing each other up to hit shared goals.

Why It's Important

Healthcare is a team sport. Coordination reduces errors, stress, and duplicated work.

How to Improve Team Collaboration Skills

1. Set clear goals: Define outcomes, owners, and timelines so nothing floats.

2. Use the right tools: Centralize updates and tasks; avoid scattered messages.

3. Hold brief huddles: Quick check-ins expose blockers and realign plans.

4. Promote openness: Encourage questions, surface risks early, assume positive intent.

5. Build rapport: Small gestures—thanks, help offered, credit given—change team dynamics.

6. Clarify roles: Who does what, and when handoffs happen, should be obvious.

7. Recognize wins: Call out collaborative behavior publicly to reinforce it.

How to Display Team Collaboration Skills on Your Resume