Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Psychiatric nursing aide skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical psychiatric nursing aide skills. We ranked the top skills for psychiatric nursing aides based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 48.5% of psychiatric nursing aide resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a psychiatric nursing aide needs to be successful in the workplace.

14 psychiatric nursing aide skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use patients:

Certified Psychiatric Nurses Aide Responsibilities included providing daily personal care to mentally disabled patients.
Maintained a safe, therapeutic environment for patients

2. 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 nursing aides use vital signs:

Record and maintain patient information, such as vital signs, eating habits, behavior, and treatments.
Preform vital signs and report any side effects from medication to professional medical staff.

3. ADL

ADL is a clinical shorthand for "activities of daily living." It includes tasks such as feeding, dressing, bathing, and caring for one's self and personal hygiene.

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use adl:

Provide or assist patient with ADL needs and ambulation Attend patient therapeutic group therapy
Administer medication, assisting with ADL'S, v/s, glucose monitoring, wound care, laundry and monthly paperwork.

4. Direct Patient Care

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use direct patient care:

Administered direct patient care as assigned and performed other nurse's aide duties under the direct supervision of a professional nurse.
Provide direct patient care according to individualized treatment care plans.

5. 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 nursing aides use cpr:

Assisted Residents with -Laundry-Dressing/ Undressing -Escorts-Showers-Toileting-Transferring-Feeding- Medication Passes * CPR Certified/ First Aid
Cared for mentally disabled adults; Dispensed and charted all medicine intake; First Aid classes and CPR courses.

6. Blood Pressure

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use blood pressure:

Cared for residents with diagnoses such as respiratory failure, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and mental disabilities.
Recorded temperature, blood pressure, pulse and respiration rates, food and fluid intake and output, as directed.

Choose from 10+ customizable psychiatric nursing aide resume templates

Build a professional psychiatric nursing aide 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 psychiatric nursing aide resume.

7. Mental Illness

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use mental illness:

Care for persons with mental illness.
Provide direct treatment and rehabilitation to individuals diagnosed with mental illness that receive services in an institutional based setting.

8. Patient Behavior

Patient behavior is frequently described as disturbing behavior as they have an altered mental stage. They might live in a conceived state of fear and anxiety and have modification of lifestyle if suffering from a chronic illness.

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use patient behavior:

Observe and accurately document patient behavior in the Electronic Medical Record (EMR).
Monitored and recorded patient behavior on a daily basis.

9. Physician Orders

Physician orders are an instruction or a set of instructions given to a patient by a doctor. This could range from being put on bedrest to being given a prescription to fill and take.

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use physician orders:

Transcribe physician orders such as laboratory results, medication changes, and discontinuation of medication.
Administer prescribed medications and reconcile physician orders.

10. Quality Care

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use quality care:

Work as part of a medical team with nurses and doctors to maintain excellent, quality care to patient.
Job Responsibilities: to provide quality care and supervision of assigned clients in accordance with state manual of standards.

11. Physical Checks

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use physical checks:

Completed physical checks and monitored adolescent residents during nighttime hours to detect unusual, inappropriate or harmful behavior and intervene appropriately.
Completed physical checks and monitored consumers to detect unusual or harmful behavior, and re

12. Mental Health Disorders

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use mental health disorders:

Provide care to patient's that have mental health disorders.

13. Crisis Situations

Here's how psychiatric nursing aides use crisis situations:

Reacted effectively to crisis situations within the center.
Oversee entire operations of facility including handling of all emergency and crisis situations.

14. 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 psychiatric nursing aides use emotional support:

Provided emotional support and helped clients become involved in their personal well-being through participation in community recreation programs and other activities.
Provided emotional support, Recorded observations for use by clinicians, supervised group recreational activities.

What skills help Psychiatric Nursing Aides find jobs?

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

List of psychiatric nursing aide skills to add to your resume

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

Patients
Vital Signs
ADL
Direct Patient Care
CPR

Blood Pressure
Mental Illness
Patient Behavior
Physician Orders
Quality Care

Physical Checks
Mental Health Disorders
Crisis Situations
Emotional Support

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.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse healthcare support jobs