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Psychiatric 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 psychiatric nurse skills. We ranked the top skills for psychiatric nurses based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 24.6% of psychiatric nurse resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a psychiatric nurse needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 psychiatric nurse skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how psychiatric nurses use patients:

Transported patients to doctor appointments and Emergency room visits, assisting medical professionals with medical care necessary as required.
Coordinated services regarding patients' medical appointments, monthly psychiatrists visits, psychotropic injections needed and provided patient education.

2. Mental Illness

Here's how psychiatric nurses use mental illness:

Provide comprehensive, community-based psychiatric treatment, rehabilitation and support to persons with serious and persistent mental illness such as schizophrenia.
Provide a safe and therapeutic environment to persons suffering from serious mental illness including those with co-occurring and/or medical disorders.

3. 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 psychiatric nurses use cpr:

Provided staff training in CPR, First-Aid, and Medication Aide classes Monitored and assessed client response to psychotropic medications
Delivered patient/family education in CPR, crisis intervention and physiological warning signs; assisted with discharge planning and community resource coordination

4. Therapeutic Interventions

Here's how psychiatric nurses use therapeutic interventions:

Established personal rapport with traumatized patients and their families to provide comfort throughout treatments and therapeutic interventions.
Facilitate the safe management of an inpatient psychiatric milieu and provide 1:1 therapeutic interventions.

5. Psychiatric Care

Here's how psychiatric nurses use psychiatric care:

Provided inpatient/outpatient psychiatric care to seriously mentally ill inmates requiring such care in the prison Residential Treatment Unit.
Provided comprehensive psychiatric care, medication management, crisis counseling, and nursing education for adults.

6. IV

Here's how psychiatric nurses use iv:

Treated medically complex patients requiring IV fluids, G-tubes, and central line care.
Administered IV and IM medications to patients with diverse medical and psychiatric illnesses.

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7. Direct Patient Care

Here's how psychiatric nurses use direct patient care:

Direct patient care including medication administration of various routes.
Provided direct patient care to Inpatient Hospitalization patients.

8. Chemical Dependency

Chemical dependency is a medical condition where a person relies on a chemical or drug in order to continue day-to-day activities. The condition can begin as abuse - where a person displays a clear pattern of substance use, commonly drugs or alcohol - and continue to dependency in which the person continues abusing substances even after problematic events have occurred.

Here's how psychiatric nurses use chemical dependency:

Performed mental and physical nursing assessments of patients with chemical dependency and a myriad of psychiatric disorders.
House Nursing Supervisor for 104 bed free standing psychiatric/chemical dependency hospital.

9. Crisis Intervention

Here's how psychiatric nurses use crisis intervention:

Provide supportive counseling, ongoing assessment of psychiatric symptoms, medication management and provide crisis intervention when necessary.
Practiced nursing care utilizing milieu therapy, group dynamics, use of psychotropic medications and crisis intervention.

10. Administer Medications

Here's how psychiatric nurses use administer medications:

Administer medications, observe for side effects, provide special nursing instructions and teach patient about their medications.
Administer medications in accordance with physician's orders, protocols, policies and procedures.

11. CPI

CPI Consumer Price Index is a monthly comprehensive measurement of the prices of goods and services representing the economy's consumption expenditure. This presents the inflation or rising of prices and deflation or falling prices. CPI keeps track of the costs of around 700 goods and services utilized by a typical household, and CPI shows how their price change each month. The changes in CPI are used to assess price changes related to the cost of living.

Here's how psychiatric nurses use cpi:

Charge Nurse duties, including admitting patients and scheduling staff for meals and groups as needed CPI certified
Evaluate and Care for Psychiatric Patients using CPI training, deescalation tactics and redirection.

12. Transcription

Here's how psychiatric nurses use transcription:

Complete medication administration safely and accurately, including transcription, administration and documentation according to established policies
Provided education and instruction to facility personnel for medical transcription.

13. Resuscitation

Here's how psychiatric nurses use resuscitation:

Performed techniques of cardiopulmonary resuscitation accurately and effectively.
Performed and participated in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

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 psychiatric nurses use vital signs:

Monitored vital signs, had one-on-one therapeutic interactions including daily assessment and documentation of patient progress.
Measured and recorded vital signs, documented and reported abnormalities.

15. Substance Abuse

Here's how psychiatric nurses use substance abuse:

Performed physical assessment and intervention for those having moderate to severe alcohol and substance abuse withdrawal or overdose.
Provided direct care/treatment to psychiatric and substance abuse patients and supervised mental health counselor staff.

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What skills help Psychiatric 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 psychiatric 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 psychiatric 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 psychiatric nurses 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 psychiatric nurses?

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 psychiatric nurse 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 psychiatric nurse skills to add to your resume

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

Patients
Mental Illness
CPR
Therapeutic Interventions
Psychiatric Care
IV
Direct Patient Care
Chemical Dependency
Crisis Intervention
Administer Medications
CPI
Transcription
Resuscitation
Vital Signs
Substance Abuse
Mental Health Issues
Rehabilitation

Therapeutic Environment
Crisis Situations
Medical Care
Compassion
Medication Management
Medical Emergencies
Quality Care
Mental Health Problems
Patient Behavior
Discharge Planning
Bipolar Disorder
Triage
Primary Care
Patient Safety
Patient Education
Group Therapy Sessions
Patient Care

Medication Education
Community Resources
Dual Diagnosis
Physician Orders
Eating Disorders
Therapeutic Milieu
Admission Assessments
Psychiatric Assessments
de-Escalation Techniques
IM
Psychiatric Disorders
Psychotropic Medications
Medication Compliance
Patient Charts
Psychosis
Psychiatric Medications

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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Psychiatric Nurse Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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