Top 12 Nurse Aide Skills to Put on Your Resume
Crafting a strong resume matters for aspiring nurse aides. Hiring teams look for a blend of hands-on clinical know-how and human skills that keep patients safe, comfortable, and heard. Show both, and you’ll rise above the noise.
Nurse Aide Skills
- CPR Certified
- Patient Care
- Vital Signs
- EHR (Electronic Health Records)
- HIPAA Compliance
- Wound Dressing
- Infection Control
- ADL Assistance
- Phlebotomy
- Medication Administration
- Mobility Support
- Charting
1. CPR Certified
CPR certification confirms you’ve completed formal training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and can deliver chest compressions and rescue breaths during cardiac or respiratory emergencies.
Why It's Important
Seconds count. CPR training equips you to act fast, keep oxygen moving, and give a patient a real chance while the team assembles or EMS arrives.
How to Improve CPR Certified Skills
- Refresh often: Revisit current guidelines before your card expires; standards evolve.
- Practice on manikins: Build muscle memory for depth, rate, and recoil.
- Train for team response: Rehearse roles, switching compressors, and using an AED smoothly.
- Seek feedback: Use feedback devices or instructors to fine-tune technique.
- Stay fit: CPR is physical. Core and upper-body strength help maintain quality compressions.
How to Display CPR Certified Skills on Your Resume
2. Patient Care
Patient care covers day-to-day support: hygiene, comfort, nutrition, toileting, positioning, and attentive observation—carried out with empathy and respect under nursing supervision.
Why It's Important
Thoughtful care eases distress, speeds recovery, and builds trust. Patients feel safer. Families do too.
How to Improve Patient Care Skills
- Tune your communication: Introduce yourself, explain tasks, listen closely, verify understanding.
- Lead with empathy: Notice discomfort. Adjust pace and approach to the person in front of you.
- Protect safety: Hand hygiene, ID checks, fall precautions, safe transfers—every time.
- Personalize care: Honor preferences, routines, cultural needs, and privacy.
- Keep learning: Review facility protocols and seek feedback from RNs on technique and priorities.
How to Display Patient Care Skills on Your Resume
3. Vital Signs
Vital signs include temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, and when ordered, oxygen saturation—baseline clues that flag changes in a patient’s condition.
Why It's Important
They tell the story early. Subtle shifts can signal trouble long before anything looks obvious.
How to Improve Vital Signs Skills
- Master technique: Use correct cuff size and placement, count full respirations discreetly, position the patient properly, and let them rest before measurements when possible.
- Validate readings: Recheck outliers, compare with baseline, and confirm manual measurements when equipment seems off.
- Document precisely: Time, method (manual vs. device), patient position, and any factors that could skew results.
- Know normal ranges: Recognize age-specific norms and facility escalation thresholds.
- Report promptly: Communicate abnormalities and related symptoms to the nurse without delay.
How to Display Vital Signs Skills on Your Resume
4. EHR (Electronic Health Records)
EHR systems store a patient’s clinical story—diagnoses, meds, allergies, orders, notes, and results—so the team can coordinate care in real time.
Why It's Important
Fast, accurate access to information reduces errors, streamlines handoffs, and keeps care consistent across shifts and services.
How to Improve EHR (Electronic Health Records) Skills
- Learn your workflows: Practice navigation for vitals, I&O, ADLs, and task lists you use daily.
- Use smart tools: Templates, order sets, and shortcuts reduce omissions and speed charting.
- Chart what you see: Objective, complete, and timely. No copy-paste, no assumptions.
- Protect privacy: Log out, verify patient identity, avoid hallway talk, and follow minimum-necessary access.
- Prepare for downtime: Know paper backups and recovery steps when the system is unavailable.
How to Display EHR (Electronic Health Records) Skills on Your Resume
5. HIPAA Compliance
HIPAA requires safeguarding protected health information—spoken, written, and electronic—through appropriate access, secure handling, and discretion.
Why It's Important
Privacy builds trust. It’s also the law. Breaches harm patients and organizations.
How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills
- Know the rules: Review facility policies on privacy, security, and minimum necessary disclosures.
- Handle data safely: Strong passwords, secure storage, and no unattended records or screens.
- Watch your surroundings: Discuss patient details only in private areas with authorized staff.
- Share on a need-to-know basis: Verify identity before releasing information.
- Report quickly: If you suspect a breach or misdirected info, escalate immediately.
How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume
6. Wound Dressing
Wound care involves protecting sites from contamination, managing drainage, and supporting healing. In many settings, RNs change dressings; nurse aides often reinforce, observe, and report.
Why It's Important
Clean, protected wounds heal better. Keen observation catches early signs of infection or skin breakdown.
How to Improve Wound Dressing Skills
- Follow scope and orders: Know exactly what you’re allowed to do and when to call the nurse.
- Aseptic habits: Hand hygiene, clean surface setup, gloves, and no-touch technique when assisting.
- Choose and apply correctly (when permitted): Match reinforcement materials to moisture level; secure without skin damage.
- Observe meticulously: Note drainage color and amount, odor, warmth, redness, pain, or separation.
- Document and report: Record what you see and escalate changes promptly.
How to Display Wound Dressing Skills on Your Resume
7. Infection Control
Infection control bundles practices that cut transmission: hand hygiene, PPE, cleaning, respiratory etiquette, isolation precautions, and safe sharps handling.
Why It's Important
It protects patients, staff, and visitors. Small habits, repeated all shift long, prevent big problems.
How to Improve Infection Control Skills
- Hand hygiene first and last: Before and after patient contact, after glove removal, and after touching surroundings.
- PPE done right: Don and doff in the correct order; match PPE to the task and isolation type.
- Clean what you touch: Disinfect high-touch surfaces and equipment between uses with approved products.
- Source control: Teach and model cough etiquette and appropriate mask use.
- Stay current: Review facility updates on isolation precautions and outbreak alerts.
How to Display Infection Control Skills on Your Resume
8. ADL Assistance
ADL assistance covers bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, feeding, and mobility support—delivered in ways that protect dignity and independence.
Why It's Important
Daily routines anchor people. Good support prevents skin issues, malnutrition, falls, and frustration.
How to Improve ADL Assistance Skills
- Communicate choices: Offer options when possible—clothing, timing, methods.
- Promote independence: Set up, cue, and assist only as needed; use adaptive devices.
- Safety checks: Clear clutter, lock brakes, test water temp, and ensure call light access.
- Skin and comfort: Frequent repositioning, moisture control, and pressure relief.
- Team up: Coordinate with therapy and nursing to align goals and techniques.
How to Display ADL Assistance Skills on Your Resume
9. Phlebotomy
Phlebotomy is venous blood collection for testing or treatment. Many nurse aides assist with setup and patient preparation; performing draws typically requires additional certification and is site- and state-dependent.
Why It's Important
Quality samples drive accurate results. Calm preparation lowers anxiety and helps the procedure go smoothly.
How to Improve Phlebotomy Skills
- Verify scope: Confirm whether drawing blood is permitted with your credentials and facility policy.
- Train deliberately: Use supervised practice or simulation to refine technique (if permitted).
- Know anatomy: Identify common veins and adapt for fragile or difficult access.
- Prepare the patient: Explain steps, position comfortably, and check ID and orders.
- Label and handle correctly: Right tubes, correct order of draw, gentle inversion, prompt transport.
How to Display Phlebotomy Skills on Your Resume
10. Medication Administration
Medication-related duties for nurse aides vary by state and facility. In many places, only specially trained and authorized aides (e.g., medication aides) may administer medications under nurse supervision; others may assist with reminders or observe self-administration.
Why It's Important
Right med, right dose, right time, right route, right patient—errors can harm. Clarity and consistency keep patients safe.
How to Improve Medication Administration Skills
- Know your authorization: Understand exactly what tasks you may perform and under which conditions.
- Follow the “five rights” plus two: Right documentation and right reason when applicable.
- Read back and double-check: Confirm orders, allergies, and expiration dates; clarify anything unclear.
- Use tools wisely: Rely on MARs and barcoding when available; avoid shortcuts.
- Monitor and report: Watch for side effects and effectiveness, and notify the nurse promptly.
How to Display Medication Administration Skills on Your Resume
11. Mobility Support
Mobility support includes safe transfers, ambulation, repositioning, and use of devices like gait belts, walkers, and slide sheets.
Why It's Important
Movement preserves function, fights pressure injuries, and lifts mood. Done badly, it risks injury for everyone.
How to Improve Mobility Support Skills
- Assess before acting: Check strength, balance, lines/tubes, footwear, pain, and cognition.
- Use proper body mechanics: Stable stance, neutral spine, and get help for heavy or unsteady transfers.
- Fit the device: Ensure correct height and placement; teach how to use it safely.
- Cue and coach: Simple instructions, count-downs, and pacing to prevent rushing.
- Prevent falls: Clear pathways, lock wheels, use non-slip socks or shoes, and stay within arm’s reach.
How to Display Mobility Support Skills on Your Resume
12. Charting
Charting is clear, timely documentation of observations, interventions, patient responses, and tasks completed—nothing more, nothing less.
Why It's Important
If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen. Accurate notes support clinical decisions, continuity, and legal protection.
How to Improve Charting Skills
- Chart promptly: Document soon after care to capture details accurately.
- Be objective and concise: Describe facts you observed; avoid opinions or assumptions.
- Use approved abbreviations: Stick to your facility’s list to avoid confusion.
- Proof before signing: Check names, times, values, and spelling; correct errors per policy.
- Protect privacy: Follow confidentiality requirements and device security practices.
- Keep current: Attend in-services on documentation standards and EHR updates.
How to Display Charting Skills on Your Resume
