ER Nurse Resume Example & Template W/ Responsibilities
An ER nurse nurse needs to be extremely good at a variety of medical skills and need to work well under pressure. Here's how you can show these elements off in your resume?
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What to highlight in an ER nurse resume
An ER nurse is often working an even more stressful job than other nurses in hospital. While all healthcare jobs require a high level of talent, working as an ER nurse comes with critical judgement and the ability to correctly make decisions that may be the difference between life and death. To make your resume really shine, you need to show off those skills. Here’s how you can use an accident and emergency room nurse resume example to create your own high-quality 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.
How to write 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 resume format, which emphasizes your professional experience. However, the functional resume and combination resume formats, which place more emphasis on skills, can be effective as well. No matter what resume template 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).
Professional Summary or Career Objective
The first official section on any resume is your professional summary or career resume objective statement. 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. Some good skills for a resume often highlighted for a ER nurse job include:
- 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).
Create your resumeDo’s and don’ts for an ER nurse resume
- Emphasize work experiences where you used teamwork. You can’t single-handedly save people’s lives in the emergency room; 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.
- 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 HIPPA 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. If you find yourself short on skills that are listed in the job description, focus on other skills (i.e., strong work ethic, flexibility) that tell employers that you can compensate in other ways.
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FAQ: ER Nurse resumes
Have questions? We’re here to help.
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.
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.
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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