Stunning ER Nurse Resume Examples for You to Use This Year

ER nurses need to be extremely good at a variety of medical skills and need to work well under pressure. How can you show these elements off in your resume?

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ER Nurse Resume Examples

An ER nurse is often working an even more stressful job than other nurses in a hospital. While all healthcare jobs require a high level of talent, working as an ER nurse comes with critical judgment and the ability to correctly make decisions that may be the difference between life and death. To make a resume really shine, you need to show off those skills. Here’s how you can use an emergency room nurse resume example to create your own high-quality resume.

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What to Highlight in an ER Nurse Resume

A strong resume for nurses working in the emergency department needs to feature your ability to manage stress and make split-second decisions for patient needs while in emergency situations. General medical knowledge is certainly important, and your nursing license should prove that you have that general knowledge. If you want to shine in your ER nurse resume, then you need to showcase instead strong interpersonal skills as well as the ability to make quick, accurate decisions.

Structure of an ER Nurse Resume

One of the most important elements that impact the structure of any resume is your resume format. Most nurses will use the chronological format, which emphasizes your professional experience. However, the functional and combination formats, which place more emphasis on skills, can be effective as well. No matter what format you choose, here are the sections you’ll need to think about:

Header

The resume header is part of the resume design. It includes your full name, contact information, and your professional portfolio links (if available).

Resume summary

The first official section on any resume is your resume summary or objective. This short paragraph, only two to three sentences, gives a hiring manager a general overview of your strengths and top achievements.

Skills

Your ER nurse skills section will have a wide array of options. Here are a few skills you’ll frequently see on ER nurse resume samples:

General patient care and nursing care
Triage
Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS)
Basic Life Support (BLS)
Critical care and acute care for patients in distress
Monitoring patient condition and vital signs
Creating care plans and treatment plans
Maintaining ICU information
Pediatric care
Inserting catheters
Ordering and reading diagnostic tests
Decision-making skills
Working with a healthcare team
Deciding on interventions
Keeping track of medical procedures and medical records
Interpersonal skills
Talking to family members
Communication skills
Pain management
Patient assessment processes
Telemetry

For this position, a mix of hard skills (technical skills such as maintaining ICU information) and soft skills (intangible traits, such as communication skills) is required, so include both in your resume.

Work history

Your work experience section is all about where you’ve worked before and what you did for them. If you’re applying to be an ER nurse, then try to include as many emergency care experiences as possible, whether your job title specifically noted emergency care needs or not.

Education

In your education section, include your nursing education and license; if you’re a registered nurse, for example, then include that here. You can also include any other certifications that you might have received, like the Trauma Nursing Core Course (TNCC).

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Do’s and Don’ts for an ER Nurse Resume

Do:

Emphasize work experiences where you used teamwork. You can’t singlehandedly save people’s lives in the ER; you need to work with your care team.
Describe specific emergency situations you’re well-suited to. The more you’re able to talk about specific experiences you’ve had in emergency situations, the better.
Be specific regarding the type of emergency situations you’re most well-versed in. This can help a hiring manager know where they would place you.

Don’t:

Talk negatively about previous employers or previous team members. This may make a hiring manager wonder whether you’d do the same to them.
Discuss any specifics regarding individuals. This is a HIPAA violation and is extremely unprofessional as well.
Mention specific skills that you’re not proficient at. Instead, just leave those skills off your resume entirely.

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FAQ: ER Nurse Resumes

Q: Do I need to include a cover letter for an ER nurse application?

Yes. Cover letters are always going to be a good idea, no matter what job you’re applying to. A cover letter allows you to talk to the hiring manager directly, expand upon some elements of your resume, and ask for a job interview, all of which can really improve your chances of scoring a job interview. For expert help with your cover letter writing, then use the ResumeHelp cover letter builder for easy access.

Q: Can I write an ER nurse resume without a lot of experience?

To become a nurse, you already need lots of experience. Just remember that relevant experience can include internships, academic experience and residencies. Plus, volunteer work is also experience. If you don’t have experience specifically in an ER nurse job, then rely on your work from other types of nursing jobs.

Q: How do I change my ER nurse resume to apply to different jobs?

Applying effectively to multiple ER nurse resumes doesn’t have to be difficult. Just use resume keywords. You can find these all throughout the job description (e.g., specific skills and qualifications), and they’re there to indicate what the hiring manager is hoping to see. By addressing these keywords in your resume, you’ll be more likely to get an interview.

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