Acute Care Nurse resume example
A resume for a Acute Care Nurse needs to show the work itself: provide advanced nursing care for patients with acute conditions such as heart attacks, respiratory distress syndrome, or shock. Day to day that means work like this: perform emergency medical procedures, such as basic cardiac life support (BLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and other condition-stabilizing interventions; manage patients' pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, monitoring patients' responses, and changing care plans accordingly. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.
Also advertised as
The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
- Cardiac Interventional Care Nurse
- Charge Nurse
- Progressive Care Unit RN
- Progressive Care Unit Registered Nurse
- Staff Nurse
- Preceptor
- Screening Unit RN
- Admission Nurse
- Care Transitions Nurse
- Chronic Condition Nurse
- Nurse
- Pediatric Acute Care Unit Nurse
- Screening Unit Registered Nurse
What this work actually involves
Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.
- Perform emergency medical procedures, such as basic cardiac life support (BLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and other condition-stabilizing interventions.
- Manage patients' pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, monitoring patients' responses, and changing care plans accordingly.
- Document data related to patients' care, including assessment results, interventions, medications, patient responses, or treatment changes.
- Diagnose acute or chronic conditions that could result in rapid physiological deterioration or life-threatening instability.
- Administer blood and blood product transfusions or intravenous infusions, monitoring patients for adverse reactions.
- Assess urgent and emergent health conditions, using both physiologically and technologically derived data.
- Assess the impact of illnesses or injuries on patients' health, function, growth, development, nutrition, sleep, rest, quality of life, or family, social and educational relationships.
- Interpret information obtained from electrocardiograms (EKGs) or radiographs (x-rays).
- Obtain specimens or samples for laboratory work.
- Collaborate with patients to plan for future health care needs or to coordinate transitions and referrals.
- Refer patients for specialty consultations or treatments.
- Set up, operate, or monitor invasive equipment and devices, such as colostomy or tracheotomy equipment, mechanical ventilators, catheters, gastrointestinal tubes, and central lines.
26 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.
Example bullets for this role
Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.
- Perform emergency medical procedures, such as basic cardiac life support (BLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and other condition-stabilizing interventions, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Manage patients' pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, monitoring patients' responses, and changing care plans accordingly, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Document data related to patients' care, including assessment results, interventions, medications, patient responses, or treatment changes, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Diagnose acute or chronic conditions that could result in rapid physiological deterioration or life-threatening instability, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Software used in this role
Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.
- Allscripts Professional EHR
- Amkai AmkaiCharts
- Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR
- Cerner Millennium
- ChartWare EMR
- e-MDs software
- eClinicalWorks EHR software
- GE Healthcare Centricity EMR
- IBM Lotus Notes
- Medscribbler Enterprise
- MicroFour PracticeStudio.NET EMR
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
24 software entries are recorded in total.
Tools and equipment
The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.
- Alligator forceps
- Angiocaths
- Apnea monitors
- Arterial blood gas testing equipment
- Arterial line catheters
- Automated external defibrillators AED
- Automated medicine dispensing equipment
- Autotransfusion systems
- Backboards
- Bedpans
- Bilevel positive airway pressure BiPAP ventilators
- Blood drawing syringes
Skills an ATS reads for
Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.
- patient care
- clinical documentation
- medication administration
- Epic
- triage
- care planning
- BLS
- patient assessment
What this job rates as most important
O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.
- 01Active Listening
- 02Critical Thinking
- 03Monitoring
- 04Reading Comprehension
- 05Service Orientation
- 06Social Perceptiveness
- 07Speaking
- 08Active Learning
- 09Complex Problem Solving
- 10Coordination
Knowledge areas
The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Education and Training
- Psychology
- Therapy and Counseling
- Mathematics
- Biology
What qualifications people in this job have
From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
- 50%Associate's Degree
- 39%Bachelor's Degree
- 7%Master's Degree
What level this role is pitched at
O*NET places this occupation in “Medium Preparation Needed”. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Common questions
- What does a Acute Care Nurse do?
- Provide advanced nursing care for patients with acute conditions such as heart attacks, respiratory distress syndrome, or shock. Day to day that includes work like perform emergency medical procedures, such as basic cardiac life support (BLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and other condition-stabilizing interventions and Manage patients' pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, monitoring patients' responses, and changing care plans accordingly.
- What skills should a Acute Care Nurse put on a resume?
- O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Reading Comprehension, and Service Orientation among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
- What software should a Acute Care Nurse list?
- Software recorded for this occupation includes Allscripts Professional EHR, Amkai AmkaiCharts, Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR, Cerner Millennium, and ChartWare EMR. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
- What other job titles cover Acute Care Nurse work?
- O*NET records 13 titles for this occupation, including Cardiac Interventional Care Nurse, Charge Nurse, Progressive Care Unit RN, and Progressive Care Unit Registered Nurse. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
- What qualifications does a Acute Care Nurse need?
- In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 50% reported their level of education as "Associate's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
- Will this resume pass an ATS for a Acute Care Nurse role?
- No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.
Related roles
Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.
What this page cannot tell you
- No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
- This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
- Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.
If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.
Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.