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Neonatal nurse skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Terrica Durbin Ph.D.,

Terrica Durbin Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical neonatal nurse skills. We ranked the top skills for neonatal nurses based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 25.8% of neonatal nurse resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a neonatal nurse needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 neonatal nurse skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how neonatal nurses use patients:

Counseled/advised patients and families regarding medical problems and proper health care methods.
Assessed and documented patients' clinical conditions including vital signs during admissions.

2. BLS

Here's how neonatal nurses use bls:

Functioned as a PALS instructor for staff and a BLS instructor for staff as well as new parents.
Obtained BLS and ACLS certifications among others such as telemetry certification and gained experience with multiple computer documenting/charting systems.

3. NRP

Neonatal Resuscitation Program refers to a training program for providers of newborn resuscitation. It's a program created by the AAP and the American Heart Association to provide a comprehensive stepwise algorithm for assessing and resuscitating the infant at delivery.

Here's how neonatal nurses use nrp:

Trained in lactation and NRP certified.

4. Direct Patient Care

Here's how neonatal nurses use direct patient care:

Direct patient care of critically ill neonates, including neonatal resuscitation at high-risk deliveries.
Performed direct patient care in a Level III NICU caring for extremely premature infants and their families.

5. Resuscitation

Here's how neonatal nurses use resuscitation:

Attended high risk vaginal and cesarean section deliveries and administered neonatal resuscitation as needed.
Provided education to staff as a neonatal resuscitation program instructor.

6. IV

Here's how neonatal nurses use iv:

Performed and managed IV initiation, central line monitoring, and arterial blood gas draws.
Provided neonatal care for sick and preterm infants, including IV therapy.

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7. Emotional Support

At its core, emotional support involves providing support, reassurance, acceptance, love, and encouragement. It is especially important in a time of stress/sadness as it stabilizes an individual and provides a positive foundation for trust. Honing this skill is important for individuals who want to pursue the career of caregivers and emotional support nurses. Their job includes monitoring mental health and helping patients to handle any mental challenge.

Here's how neonatal nurses use emotional support:

Provide primary care, fulfill special needs, prescription and medicine dosage provide emotional support and counseling.
Provided behavioral/emotional support and supervision.

8. ECMO

Here's how neonatal nurses use ecmo:

Utilized medical technology including traditional and oscillating ventilators, continuous monitoring systems and Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO).
Experience with advance technology including Oscillators and ECMO

9. Nursing Diagnosis

Here's how neonatal nurses use nursing diagnosis:

Develop nursing diagnosis based on assessment findings.
Skilled in using nursing process including performing assessments, formulating nursing diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation.

10. Critical Care

Here's how neonatal nurses use critical care:

Carried out patient treatment plans and administered medications to infants in critical care.
Full time (36 hours per week) nurse responsible for acute critical care in a Level III neonatal ICU.

11. Level III Nicu

Here's how neonatal nurses use level iii nicu:

Provide skilled nursing care to preterm, and sick newborns in a Level III NICU.
Provided life sustaining treatment to the tiniest of infants in a level III NICU setting.

12. 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 neonatal nurses use cpr:

Assisted the charge nurse with CPR classes to the parents through interpretation & instruction.
Acted as Discharge Planner and Community instructor for Infant and Pediatric CPR.

13. Quality Care

Here's how neonatal nurses use quality care:

Demonstrated competency in assuring quality care, Process Improvement, patient and employee safety, collaboration, consultation and professional development.
Collaborated with physicians to coordinate quality care of the neonatal and pediatric population.

14. 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 neonatal nurses use vital signs:

Acquired experience with plan of care development, patient assessments, vital sign monitoring admissions and discharges.
Administer medical care, vital signs, data intake, record-keeping, and other nursing duties.

15. Level II

Level II often marks a grade of experience one gains in the workplace. Depending on the field, a Level II certification may require a certain class or number of years of on-site work and training. For instance, in a medical or therapeutic field, a Level II designation is applied to individuals that achieve professionalism in their career, who demonstrate a higher level of clinical reasoning, and that help a certain number of clients.

Here's how neonatal nurses use level ii:

Complete Nursing Care provided to neonates, including premature infants in the special care unit of a Level III Referral Center.
Level III Unit, responsible for the high, intermediate and special care of premature and compromised neonates.

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What skills help Neonatal Nurses find jobs?

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What skills stand out on neonatal nurse resumes?

Terrica Durbin Ph.D.

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

Communication, critical thinking, patient assessment, problem-solving, clinical skills specific to the nurse's setting, electronic recordkeeping, flexibility.

What soft skills should all neonatal 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 neonatal 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 neonatal nurse skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Kara Sump MSN, CNE

Assistant Professor of Nursing, George Fox University

Communication will never go away, but is moving to a highly virtual format. You need to be able to articulate well in writing and orally. You also need to be relatable and personable. Working interprofessionally and collaboratively is going to be the expectation. Managing high volumes of information in shorter time periods. This is usually seen through the electronic health records and electronic communication.

What type of skills will young neonatal nurses need?

Jeffery Christian

Professor, Sac City

The more things change, the more they stay the same. With that said, there will always be universal skills that are required for the nursing profession. Skills such as being a great listener. A great listener to me is a nurse who has empathy. A nurse who has empathy can put themselves in the patient's shoes and therefore, will be better at meeting that particular patient's needs. A nurse with empathy will know how to ask the right questions, in a way that is nonjudgmental, and uses open-ended questions that empower the patient to share their true self.

Building relationships with patients is vital for patient education and teaching. So much of nursing is teaching. If the nurse does not have the skill of relationship building, many opportunities to truly create change in the patient's life will be lost. When we (the nursing profession) truly see and understand what our patient's lives look like, then we put ourselves and our patients in the best possible position to create life-long change.

Life-long learning - nursing is based on Evidence-Based Practice. What that means is that the nursing profession is constantly researching and developing best practices. That means, if you are entering the profession, you have to be quick to adapt and open to constant change. Even more so than open, eager to find the best way to deliver world-class patient care.

Maintaining life balance - I have been a nurse for 28 years, and this profession is much more difficult now than it was when I started. In order for bedside nurses to be effective, and to not develop compassion fatigue/burnout... homeostasis has to be achieved. A young nurse just entering the profession has to know how to keep balance. Whether it is yoga, journaling, exercising, eating well, sleeping well,... all of these components have to be in balance so the nurse can come to work refreshed and recharged.

Obviously - one of the key components to being a great nurse and having sustainability in this profession is to be a critical thinker. Nothing is as it seems, and this profession demands nurses to constantly be on their toes and to be thinking critically about why they do what they do. Whether it is passing a specific medication, performing a diagnostic test, ... the ability to constantly think critically is vital for patient safety.
There are so many more, but I have to get back to work, and this is taking longer than I thought...

Do you want to know more?

List of neonatal nurse skills to add to your resume

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

Patients
BLS
NRP
Direct Patient Care
Resuscitation
IV
Emotional Support
ECMO
Nursing Diagnosis
Critical Care
Level III Nicu
CPR
Quality Care
Vital Signs
Level II

Ventilation
Medical Care
Medication Administration
Primary Care
Diagnostic Tests
EKG
NNP
Labor Delivery
Intubation
Data Collection
UAC
Patient Families
NICU
CPAP
Tertiary Care

PICC
Infant Care
Care Nursery
Physician Orders
Developmental Care
Discharge Planning
Medical Procedures
Staff RN
Phototherapy
Patient Care
Catheter
Taps
Relief
NG

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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Neonatal Nurse Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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