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Critical care nurse 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 critical care nurse skills. We ranked the top skills for critical care nurses based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 30.6% of critical care nurse resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a critical care nurse needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 critical care nurse skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how critical care nurses use patients:

Coordinated and assisted Respiratory Therapists for any modifications needed for ventilator patients including settings and order changes.
Provide comprehensive nursing care to adult patients primarily with cardiac disorders and associated secondary diagnoses.

2. BLS

Here's how critical care nurses use bls:

Participated in several cardiopulmonary arrests utilizing BLS and ACLS algorithms.
Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)/Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS)/Basic Life Support (BLS) certified.

3. Acls

Here's how critical care nurses use acls:

Maintained ACLS certification, staff development training, and other specific educational requirements/opportunities as needed.
Certified and maintained ACLS certification.

4. Life Support

Life support is a machine or equipment often used by the hospital for patients with severe conditions, such as those in the Intensive Care Unit or ICU. It is developed to provide short-term support to help patients have enough time to treat or recover from a severe health concern. It is typically a mechanical ventilation tool for patients who has difficulty in breathing. The life support can last for about a month or so, but if the patient is unconscious, it might be lower.

Here's how critical care nurses use life support:

Perform emergency medical procedures such as basic cardiac life support, advanced cardiac life support and other condition stabilizing interventions.
Addressed medically emergent patient problems, applied advanced life support techniques, and transported critically ill patients to necessary facilities.

5. Quality Care

Here's how critical care nurses use quality care:

Collaborate with interdisciplinary team of medical professionals in providing quality care to a diverse patient population in a critical care setting.
Provided high quality care to critically ill and injured adults including emergency response and management of families in crisis.

6. Compassion

Here's how critical care nurses use compassion:

Leveraged compassion in facilitating pain management and completing prescribed treatments and reassessing effectiveness of therapy.
Provide compassion to family members ensuring optimal levels of comfort and privacy.

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7. Home Health

Here's how critical care nurses use home health:

Home Health NurseProvided personal in home health care to clients with qualified benefits under the EEOICP, RECA & DCMWC.
Provided home health clinical nursing services inside residences for primarily pediatric patients as well as traumatic brain injured patients.

8. 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 critical care nurses use cpr:

Performed a variety of care including taking vitals, administering medications, blood transfusions, CPR, and advanced airway management.
Provided CPR instruction to staff when unable to attend scheduled classes.

9. Rehabilitation

Here's how critical care nurses use rehabilitation:

Provided education on acute disease process, management, and rehabilitation to patients and family members.
Experienced in Firefighter Rehabilitation, Critical Care transports, Inter -Facility transports, community events, and ambulance driving.

10. Advanced Life Support

Here's how critical care nurses use advanced life support:

Maintain active, current certifications in Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, and Basic Life Support.
Experience in providing Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support and Basic Life Support to patients.

11. Direct Patient Care

Here's how critical care nurses use direct patient care:

Provided direct patient care in situations involving ventilation, multiple intravenous drips, and external pacemakers.
Provide direct patient care as a registered nurse within the Medical ICU, Surgical/Trauma ICU, Cardiac ICU and Burn ICU.

12. Patient Outcomes

Here's how critical care nurses use patient outcomes:

Participated in hospital-wide patient sedative usage research activities to improve patient quality of care and patient outcomes.
Utilized team approach and provide clinical interventions for improvement in patient outcomes.

13. Telemetry

A telemetry is a process of automatically monitoring and recording vital conditions like the blood pressure, heart rhythm, and oxygen saturation of a patient, particularly those in the Intensive Care Unit or ICU critical condition. It is where the information gathered to report as a basis for a doctor's findings.

Here's how critical care nurses use telemetry:

Serve as Chair of Telemetry Certification Program, Mock Code Program Development, and Early Mobilization of Mechanically Ventilated Patients Initiative.
Perform critical admission process and ongoing assessments for Cardiac Telemetry Unit with patient orientation and education.

14. IV

Here's how critical care nurses use iv:

Performed admission assessments, focused assessments, IV insertion, and medication administration.
Managed ventilated patients and monitored critical IV drips and sedation.

15. Patient Education

Here's how critical care nurses use patient education:

Managed medical emergencies and ensured continuity of care through appropriate discharge planning and patient education.
Provided continual family and patient education along the care continuum.

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What skills help Critical Care Nurses find jobs?

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

What type of skills will young critical care nurses 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 critical care nurse 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 critical care nurses possess?

Terrica Durbin Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Director, School of Nursing, Western Carolina University

Communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, flexibility.

What hard/technical skills are most important for critical care nurses?

Terrica Durbin Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Director, School of Nursing, Western Carolina University

Clinical skills specific to the nurse's setting, electronic recordkeeping, patient assessment, and prioritizing appropriate interventions.

What critical care nurse skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Michelle Collins Ph.D., CNM, RNC-EFM, FACNM, FAAN, FNAP

Dean and Professor, Loyola University New Orleans

As mentioned in my first response, flexibility is an absolute must have quality to make it in the nursing profession. Your work day will hardly ever go as expected; being able to pivot and change course at a moment's notice, and not allow change to totally unnerve you is a great quality to have. Another is the ability to multitask well. This may take some practice but it's a necessity for a nurse to be able to capably juggle numerous tasks at one time. Technical expertise will also become increasingly important given the nurse's use of electronic medical records. Lastly, resilience is of utmost importance for a nurse to have. New nurses are leaving the field at an alarming rate much earlier in their career than in the past. Nursing required resilience to survive. I can promise anyone going into nursing that it is indeed the most difficult job you could ever have - and also the most rewarding.

Do you want to know more?

List of critical care nurse skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a critical care nurse resume and required skills for a critical care nurse to have include:

Patients
BLS
Acls
Life Support
Quality Care
Compassion
Home Health
CPR
Rehabilitation
Advanced Life Support
Direct Patient Care
Patient Outcomes
Telemetry
IV
Patient Education
SICU
Catheter

EKG
Discharge Planning
Critical Care RN
Team Work
CCRN
Nursing Diagnosis
PACU
Vital Signs
Ventilation
Family Education
Resuscitation
Medication Administration
MICU
Intubation
Patient Care
PCU
Emotional Support

CVICU
Arrhythmia
Picu
Pain Management
Chest Tubes
Diagnostic Tests
Mechanical Ventilation
Informed Consent
Assessment Data
GI
Medical Equipment
Titration
Ventilator Management
Tertiary Care
Registered 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.

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Critical Care Nurse Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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