Critical Care Nurse resume example
A resume for a Critical Care Nurse needs to show the work itself: provide specialized nursing care for patients in critical or coronary care units. Day to day that means work like this: evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs; monitor patients for changes in status and indications of conditions such as sepsis or shock and institute appropriate interventions. 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.
- Critical Care Nurse Practitioner
- Critical Care Registered Nurse
- CCRN
- ICU Nurse
- Intensive Care Unit Nurse
- Staff Nurse
- Certified Critical Care Nurse
- ICU Critical Care NP
- Intensive Care Unit Registered Nurse
- ICU RN
- Newborn ICU RN
- Nurse
- Pediatric Critical Care Nurse Practitioner
- Cardiovascular ICU RN
- CCU RN
- CCN
- ICU Travel RN
- Intensive Care RN
O*NET records 36 titles for this occupation in total.
What people in this job call themselves
Titles reported by people actually doing this work, which is often not the title on the job posting.
- Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN)
- ICU Critical Care NP (Intensive Care Unit Critical Care Nurse Practitioner)
- ICU Nurse (Intensive Care Unit Nurse)
- Intensive Care Unit Registered Nurse (ICU RN)
- Newborn ICU RN (Newborn Intensive Care 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.
- Evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs.
- Monitor patients for changes in status and indications of conditions such as sepsis or shock and institute appropriate interventions.
- Administer medications intravenously, by injection, orally, through gastric tubes, or by other methods.
- Monitor patients' fluid intake and output to detect emerging problems, such as fluid and electrolyte imbalances.
- Prioritize nursing care for assigned critically ill patients, based on assessment data or identified needs.
- Compile and analyze data obtained from monitoring or diagnostic tests.
- Conduct pulmonary assessments to identify abnormal respiratory patterns or breathing sounds that indicate problems.
- Assess patients' pain levels or sedation requirements.
- Collaborate with other health care professionals to develop and revise treatment plans, based on identified needs and assessment data.
- Document patients' medical histories and assessment findings.
- Collect specimens for laboratory tests.
- Set up and monitor medical equipment and devices such as cardiac monitors, mechanical ventilators and alarms, oxygen delivery devices, transducers, or pressure lines.
29 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.
- Evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Monitor patients for changes in status and indications of conditions such as sepsis or shock and institute appropriate interventions, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Administer medications intravenously, by injection, orally, through gastric tubes, or by other methods, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Monitor patients' fluid intake and output to detect emerging problems, such as fluid and electrolyte imbalances, 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
- American Association of Critical Care Nurses AACN Medicopeia
- Amkai AmkaiCharts
- Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR
- Cerner Millennium
- ChartWare EMR
- e-MDs software
- eClinicalWorks EHR software
- Epic Systems
- GE Healthcare Centricity EMR
- Google Drive
- Medical software
- MEDITECH Healthcare Information System HCIS
- MEDITECH software
27 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.
- Angiocaths
- Apnea monitors
- Arterial blood gas testing equipment
- Arterial line catheters
- Automated external defibrillators AED
- Automated medicine dispensing equipment
- Autotransfusion systems
- Bed scales
- Bedpans
- Bilevel positive airway pressure BiPAP ventilators
- Blood drawing syringes
- Blood glucometers
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.
- 01Monitoring
- 02Active Listening
- 03Critical Thinking
- 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
- Psychology
- Biology
- Mathematics
- Education and Training
- Therapy and Counseling
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%Bachelor's Degree
- 36%Associate's Degree
- 11%Master's Degree
What level this role is pitched at
O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Common questions
- What does a Critical Care Nurse do?
- Provide specialized nursing care for patients in critical or coronary care units. Day to day that includes work like evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs and Monitor patients for changes in status and indications of conditions such as sepsis or shock and institute appropriate interventions.
- What skills should a Critical Care Nurse put on a resume?
- O*NET rates Monitoring, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, 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 Critical Care Nurse list?
- Software recorded for this occupation includes Allscripts Professional EHR, American Association of Critical Care Nurses AACN Medicopeia, Amkai AmkaiCharts, Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR, and Cerner Millennium. 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 Critical Care Nurse work?
- O*NET records 36 titles for this occupation, including Critical Care Nurse Practitioner, Critical Care Registered Nurse, CCRN, and ICU Nurse. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
- What qualifications does a Critical Care Nurse need?
- In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 50% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
- Will this resume pass an ATS for a Critical 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.