Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Cardiac nurse specialist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Angela Mund,

Angela Mund

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical cardiac nurse specialist skills. We ranked the top skills for cardiac nurse specialists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 29.7% of cardiac nurse specialist resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a cardiac nurse specialist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 cardiac nurse specialist skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use patients:

Assisted with setup and maintenance of collaborative program between University of Michigan Hospitals and Saginaw Hospital for cardiac transplant patients.
Developed and implemented exercise programs for cardiac and pulmonary patients, stress testing, cardiac monitoring, and patient education

2. BLS

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use bls:

Contacted doctors and other health care professionals in regards to patient care/needs* BLS, ACLS & PALS certified.
Obtained BLS and ACLS certifications among others such as telemetry certification and gained experience with multiple computer documenting/charting systems.

3. Acls

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use acls:

Evaluate patients' vital signs and laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs including initiation and implementation of ACLS code situations.
Demonstrated effective response to crises situations and prevented patient deterioration by early intervention and use of ACLS protocols.

4. Acute Care

The branch of secondary healthcare which is responsible for giving short-term care to patients recovering from severe injuries or urgent medical problems is known as acute care. Acute care comprises multiple domains like; emergency care, urgent care, short-term stabilization, pre-hospital care, critical care, and trauma care.

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use acute care:

Attended numerous conferences and professional meetings, collaborated with multidisciplinary personnel, and read literature on latest developments in acute care.
Received many compliments from hospital nursing managers on ability to adapt almost immediately to any acute care unit that was scheduled.

5. Rehabilitation

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use rehabilitation:

Provided educational information and oversight of recovery related to rehabilitation following a cardiac event.
Assessed, planned, implemented and evaluated a plan of rehabilitation for clients post MI, CABG and angioplasty.

6. Electrophysiology

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use electrophysiology:

Provided support to Electrophysiology Lab and assisted physicians in performing diagnostics, ablations, cardiac device emplacement, and sterile procedure.

Choose from 10+ customizable cardiac nurse specialist resume templates

Build a professional cardiac nurse specialist resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your cardiac nurse specialist resume.

7. CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a medical procedure that involves chest compression to help a patient breathe. This artificial ventilation helps in keeping the brain function in place and regulates blood throughout the body. CPR is a lifesaving procedure that is used in emergencies.

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use cpr:

Delivered patient/family education in CPR, crisis intervention and physiological warning signs; assisted with discharge planning and community resource coordination
Responded to codes, administering CPR and oxygen, monitoring vitals and preparing medications in anticipation of physician orders.

8. Vital Signs

Vital signs are a set of values indicating different body systems' performance. They are measurements of the body's most basic functions. The four major vital signs used in medicine to assess a patient are body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure.

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use vital signs:

Care involved airway maintenance, monitoring vital signs, administering medications, and communicating effectively with physicians and other team members.
Recorded patient's vital signs and read fetal monitoring strips; identified and managed life-sustaining physiological functions in unstable patients.

9. EKG

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use ekg:

Obtained conscious sedation, NALS and EKG certifications.
Review of 12 lead EKG's/ telemetry strips.

10. Direct Patient Care

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use direct patient care:

Direct patient care, administering medications, interpreting Telemetry monitors and overseeing patient care techs.
Provided direct patient care for various disease processes as a floor RN.

11. Arrhythmia

Arrhythmia refers to an irregular or abnormal rate of your heartbeat. This means that your heart beats either too quickly, beats too slowly, or beats with an irregular pattern. Some factors that can affect your heart's rhythm (arrhythmia) include having had a heart attack, smoking, congenital heart defects, stress, etc.

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use arrhythmia:

Provided care for cardiac patients in arrhythmia critical care unit, providing patient education and monitoring telemetry
Monitored patients with medical cardiac, pulmonary and vascular diagnosis, arrhythmia and administered anti-arrhythmic medications.

12. Critical Care

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use critical care:

Provide one on one critical care nursing for adult/geriatric patients requiring complex assessment, high intensity therapies and life sustaining interventions
Provided emergency care, critical care, medical surgical care, and psychiatric care holistically, by an integrated-interdisciplinary approach.

13. Cardiac Rehab

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use cardiac rehab:

Apply monitors and assist with physician ordered cardiac rehab (Phase II and Phase III).
Worked as Cardiac Rehab nurse in the Step down unit post MI and open heart surgery.

14. Cath Lab

A catheterization laboratory, or a cath lab, is a specialized room in a hospital where doctors perform minimally invasive tests and procedures to diagnose and treat medical diseases. It is an examination room equipped with diagnostic imaging equipment. The equipment there can visualize chambers and arteries of the heart to rule out any possibility of atherosclerosis, obstruction in vessels/valves, or any other malignancies in the heart.

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use cath lab:

Respond to notification of possible STEMI/NSTEMI., preparing for cardiac cath.
Assisted in all aspects of cardiac cath lab.

15. Discharge Planning

Here's how cardiac nurse specialists use discharge planning:

Prepared and performed patient and family teaching related to discharge planning.
Participate in physician/nursing rounds, patient discharge planning, educate patients/family with regard to medications, equipment and pulmonary disease management.

5 Cardiac Nurse Specialist resume examples

Build a professional cardiac nurse specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 5+ resume templates to create your cardiac nurse specialist resume.

Create my resume

Build a professional resume in minutes using this template.

What skills help Cardiac Nurse Specialists find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What type of skills will young cardiac nurse specialists need?

Angela Mund

Vice President, American Association of Nurse Anesthetists

To meet the needs of our current volatile and complex healthcare landscape, all healthcare providers will need to understand the business of healthcare, in addition to providing expert patient care. Starting in 2025, all graduates from nurse anesthesia programs will be awarded a doctoral degree, a doctorate in nursing practice (DNP), or a doctorate in nurse anesthesia practice (DNAP). These degree programs include additional anesthesia experience as well as an understanding of effective leadership, healthcare economics and reimbursement, the use of big data for improving patient outcomes, and evidence-based practice.

What skills stand out on cardiac nurse specialist resumes?

Angela Mund

Vice President, American Association of Nurse Anesthetists

To become a CRNA, the applicant must first be a registered nurse and graduate of a baccalaureate nursing program. A minimum of one year of clinical experience in an intensive care unit (ICU) is required. The application process is rigorous, and many nurse anesthesia programs are seeing higher than typical applicant numbers, perhaps due to the impact of COVID-19 on the ICU nurse workforce.

The most competitive applicants will have an overall GPA >3.5. Basic science courses are heavily weighted with respect to both course grade and type of course. A competitive resumé should include evidence of clinical expertise, leadership, volunteerism, and scholarly work. In addition, all registered nurse applicants should have shadowed a CRNA to learn about the profession prior to application. The interview process may include assessments of critical thinking, decision-making, and emotional intelligence.

What soft skills should all cardiac nurse specialists possess?

Diane Salvador Ph.D.

Executive Director and Professor, Elmhurst University

The most important skill for new nursing graduates is critical thinking. You will be put into varying roles and assume different responsibilities. You must critically think and evaluate situations you find yourself in and make wise nursing decisions. Another important skill that we emphasize in education is communication - this is key to safe, quality care.

What hard/technical skills are most important for cardiac nurse specialists?

Diane Salvador Ph.D.

Executive Director and Professor, Elmhurst University

New nurses should be prepared to demonstrate proficiency in basic nursing care and procedures. It is important to realize that each hospital has its own policy and procedure to follow, so taking advantage of your nurse preceptor and orientation program will ensure you are familiar with these basic procedures.

What cardiac nurse specialist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Michelle Hampton Ph.D.

Associate Professor, San Jose State University

I think there are always opportunities to work and gain experience once the nurse is licensed. They might need to be creative, flexible, and work where there's a need. That might be a specialty area they hadn't considered or a geographic area that requires some travel. I don't think a gap year is inevitable for all new graduates and there might be opportunities for them to find work, and they can always continue the learning process after you're employed, even if it's not your dream job. The more significant obstacle seems to be for students who are currently still in nursing programs.

Clinical sites weren't accepting students for several months, and now that they are again, they have significantly limited the number of students allowed at one time and the number of hours they can train. When a staff member or patient tests positive, students are pulled from the site for some time, and students are struggling to get the minimum number of hours required to continue progressing in the nursing program. Some schools have even suspended admission for new groups of students instead choosing to focus on getting the current students through the program.

Do you want to know more?

List of cardiac nurse specialist skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a cardiac nurse specialist resume and required skills for a cardiac nurse specialist to have include:

Patients
BLS
Acls
Acute Care
Rehabilitation
Electrophysiology
CPR
Vital Signs
EKG
Direct Patient Care
Arrhythmia
Critical Care
Cardiac Rehab
Cath Lab

Discharge Planning
Diagnosis
IV
Patient Education
Physician Orders
PET
ICU
Emergency Room
Home Health
Family Education
Patient Outcomes
Cardiac Procedures
Catheter
Stress Tests

Blood Pressure
Test Results
Open Heart Surgery
Epic
CHF
Diabetes
Risk Factors
EMR
Advanced Life Support
ECG
Administer Medications
Lab Values
Medical-Surgical Nursing

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Zippia Careers
Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Industry
Cardiac Nurse Specialist
Cardiac Nurse Specialist Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse healthcare practitioner and technical jobs