Registered Nurse resume keywords
Most registered nurse applications are screened by software before a person reads them: the ATS ranks resumes by how many of the posting's words they contain. The lists below are the terms that show up most in registered nurse job ads. Use the ones that are true for you, with the same spelling the ad uses.
Hard skills and ATS keywords
- Patient assessment
- Medication administration
- IV therapy
- EHR (Epic)
- Wound care
- Patient education
- BLS / ACLS
- Charge nurse
- Care planning
- Telemetry
- Triage
- Infection control
- Discharge planning
- Critical thinking
- Vital signs monitoring
- Patient safety
- HIPAA
- Cerner
Soft skills recruiters look for
- Compassion
- Calm under pressure
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Advocacy
Soft skills only count when a bullet proves them. "Team player" is ignored; "Charge nurse for a 32-bed med-surg unit, coordinating 8 nurses and 4 aides per shift." shows it.
Action verbs to start your bullets
- Assessed
- Administered
- Coordinated
- Precepted
- Reduced
- Educated
- Monitored
- Implemented
How to use these keywords
- Mirror the job ad: if it says "Care planning", do not write a synonym.
- Put the top 6–8 in a skills section and repeat the key ones inside experience bullets with a number.
- Never list a skill you cannot talk about in an interview.
- Keep the file text-based (no skills inside images or tables), or the ATS cannot read it.
Which ones is your resume missing?
Every posting is different. Paste your resume and the job ad — free ATS Match Score Score your resume free (0-100)
No signup. It lists the keywords from the ad that your resume does not contain.
Need the resume itself? See the registered nurse resume example and generate one free from rough notes.