Post job

What does a registered nurse do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Lisa Rebeschi Ph.D.
What does a registered nurse do

The primary responsibilities of a registered nurse involve caring for a variety of patients, from ill and injured to those who are healthy and wanting to stay that way. Nurses have different specialization and work with particular patients, such as newborn babies or those who are suffering from particular medical conditions. They work on different settings which includes hospital, outpatient facility, rehabilitation center, nursing home, dialysis center, home healthcare agency, and other offices. They can administer medications, wound care, and other aids or treatment plan. They also conduct medical tests, interpret the results, and monitor patients' recovery and progress.

On this page

Registered nurse responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real registered nurse resumes:

  • Manage patient care for individuals with multiple diagnoses including COPD, diabetes, stroke and cardiac issues.
  • Organize and manage regular clinics involving external physicians, including ophthalmology, ENT, Med/Surg, orthopedics, and podiatry professionals.
  • Manage surgical recovery patients including vascular, ENT, GI urological and neurological cases, coronary bypass surgery patients.
  • Manage patient pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention, monitor patient response and record care plans accordingly.
  • Provide care for cardiac patients in arrhythmia critical care unit, providing patient education and monitoring telemetry
  • Re-Cover surgical patients immediately after heart and vascular surgery until transfer out of ICU.
  • Work medical/surgical, telemetry, orthopedics, oncology, ambulatory surgery, and float pool positions.
  • Obtain BLS and ACLS certifications among others such as telemetry certification and gain experience with multiple computer documenting/charting systems.
  • Evaluate patients' vital signs and laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs including initiation and implementation of ACLS code situations.
  • Total patient care for post surgical patients: plastics, urology, ENT, & oral surgery
  • Develop and implement med/surg training program for improve performance with patient care.
  • Provide quality nursing care to chronically ill oncology, leukemia and lymphoma patients.
  • Prepare patients for surgery, assist with post-operative recovery, initiate IVs and administer medications.
  • Provide compassionate, competent care within vascular-surgical step-down unit with telemetry and mechanical ventilation monitoring requiring ACLS certification.
  • Execute caring nursing care for medical and surgical patients requiring external cardiac monitoring by use of a telemetry monitor.

Registered nurse skills and personality traits

We calculated that 24% of Registered Nurses are proficient in Patients, BLS, and CPR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.

We break down the percentage of Registered Nurses that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patients, 24%

    Provided comprehensive medical and emotional care to critically ill patients with varying diagnosis Interacted with patient families to provide support.

  • BLS, 10%

    Registered Nurse on Medical-Surgical/Telemetry unity Skills: ACLS, BLS Certified 12 Lead EKG Interpretation Geriatrics-focused medical training

  • CPR, 6%

    Maintained competency with all emergency operational procedures, and initiated CPR and emergency measures, as needed.

  • Acute Care, 5%

    Received many compliments from hospital nursing managers on ability to adapt almost immediately to any acute care unit that was scheduled.

  • Acls, 5%

    Provided compassionate, competent care within vascular-surgical step-down unit with telemetry and mechanical ventilation monitoring requiring ACLS certification.

  • Home Health, 4%

    Provided education to Home Health Patients to include Disease Process/Management.

"patients," "bls," and "cpr" are among the most common skills that registered nurses use at work. You can find even more registered nurse responsibilities below, including:

Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a registered nurse to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "registered nurses must be able to communicate effectively with patients in order to understand their concerns and evaluate their health conditions." Additionally, a registered nurse resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "provided exceptional nursing care for geriatric residents including medication administration, treatments, documentation, and communication with residents and family"

Compassion. Many registered nurse duties rely on compassion. "registered nurses should be caring and empathetic when working with patients.," so a registered nurse will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways registered nurse responsibilities rely on compassion: "worked with va to provide compassionate, and skilled care to their home health and hospice patients. "

Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of registered nurses is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday registered nurse duties, as "registered nurses must be precise because they must ensure that patients get the correct treatments and medicines at the right time." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "provided patient care through protocol-oriented treatment, intravenous line insertions, blood draws, assessments, and medication administration. "

Emotional stability. A big part of what registered nurses do relies on "emotional stability." You can see how essential it is to registered nurse responsibilities because "registered nurses need emotional resilience and the ability to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stressors." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical registered nurse tasks: "manage emergency situations such as accidental intubation and cardiac arrest to regain client stability. "

Organizational skills. A commonly-found skill in registered nurse job descriptions, "organizational skills" is essential to what registered nurses do. Registered nurse responsibilities rely on this skill because "nurses often work with multiple patients who have a variety of health needs." You can also see how registered nurse duties rely on organizational skills in this resume example: "collaborate with multi-disciplinary team in assessing organizational readiness for multi-hospital emr implementation, in a phased roll-out. "

Physical stamina. Another skill commonly found on registered nurse job descriptions is "physical stamina." It can come up quite often in registered nurse duties, since "nurses should be comfortable performing physical tasks, such as lifting patients." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day registered nurse responsibilities: "performed all functions related to daily activities in each area like physical assessment, medication administration and nutrition. "

Most common registered nurse skills

The three companies that hire the most registered nurses are:

Choose from 10+ customizable registered nurse resume templates

Build a professional registered nurse 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 registered nurse resume.
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume
Registered Nurse Resume

Compare different registered nurses

Registered nurse vs. Pediatric nurse

A pediatric nurse is a registered nurse who offers medical and health care for children in hospitals and clinics. Pediatric nurses educate caregivers and parents on the effective methods of child health protection. They take care of children's health from birth to adolescence. They are experts in child care while they are working with their respective families to address their problems, fears, concerns, and other options. The necessary skills for this job include child development knowledge and communication skills.

If we compare the average registered nurse annual salary with that of a pediatric nurse, we find that pediatric nurses typically earn a $404 lower salary than registered nurses make annually.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both registered nurse and pediatric nurse positions are skilled in patients, bls, and cpr.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, registered nurse responsibilities require skills like "surgery," "quality care," "infection control," and "medication administration." Meanwhile a typical pediatric nurse has skills in areas such as "picu," "kids," "patient assessment," and "administer medications." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Pediatric nurses earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $64,106. On the other hand, registered nurses are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $64,500.On average, pediatric nurses reach similar levels of education than registered nurses. Pediatric nurses are 1.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Registered nurse vs. Staff nurse

Staff nurses are registered nurses who are usually assigned to work in a care home, a company, or in a clinical setting. They advise the physical assessments of patients, employees, and residents. They also handle the checking of vital signs, providing basic medical procedures, giving first aid, and, if possible, providing over the counter medication. Staff nurses provide medical attention to the people in their place of assignment. They help pave the path to their patients' full recovery. Staff nurses are expected to be patient and have good interpersonal skills.

On average, staff nurses earn a $5,007 lower salary than registered nurses a year.A few skills overlap for registered nurses and staff nurses. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "patients," "bls," and "cpr. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, registered nurse responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "home health," "compassion," "emergency situations," and "emr." Meanwhile, a staff nurse has duties that require skills in areas such as "staff rn," "manual dexterity," "patient assessment," and "patient flow." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

Staff nurses may earn a lower salary than registered nurses, but staff nurses earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $58,739. On the other hand, registered nurses receive higher pay in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $64,500.In general, staff nurses achieve similar levels of education than registered nurses. They're 0.6% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for registered nurses in the next 3-5 years?

Lisa Rebeschi Ph.D.Lisa Rebeschi Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Associate Dean of the School of Nursing Professor of Nursing, Quinnipiac University

Telehealth will continue to play an essential role in the delivery of high-quality patient care. As nursing professionals, RNs must be familiar with the delivery of digital health, including issues such as the scope of practice, regulation, delivery platforms, and patient privacy to name a few.

Registered nurse vs. Advanced registered nurse practitioner

An advanced registered nurse practitioner (ARNP) is responsible for patient care. An ARNP may practice independently or work with other healthcare professionals such as physicians. Your duties typically include examining patients and determining diagnosis by physical examination, patient history, and other medical assessments, admitting, managing, and discharging patients to and from medical facilities, and managing health care by developing, implementing, and evaluating treatment and care plans for patients. You will also be responsible for referring patients to other health care service providers or facilities.

On average, advanced registered nurse practitioners earn higher salaries than registered nurses, with a $24,471 difference per year.By looking over several registered nurses and advanced registered nurse practitioners resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "patients," "acute care," and "home health." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, registered nurses are more likely to have skills like "bls," "cpr," "acls," and "surgery." But a advanced registered nurse practitioner is more likely to have skills like "arnp," "diagnosis," "health problems," and "discharge summaries."

Advanced registered nurse practitioners earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $103,277. Registered nurses earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $64,500.advanced registered nurse practitioners typically earn higher educational levels compared to registered nurses. Specifically, they're 46.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Registered nurse vs. Emergency department registered nurse

An emergency registered nurse is first in line for patients who need a response. These nurses are first to respond to emergency cases such as trauma, allergic reactions, and injuries. They assist doctors and other medical staff in emergency medical care. It is their responsibility to always provide high-quality standards for nursing. The skills they should possess include diligence, attention to detail, levelheadedness, and strong communication. They also need to be knowledgeable about emergency care.

Emergency department registered nurses typically earn higher pay than registered nurses. On average, emergency department registered nurses earn a $7,911 higher salary per year.While their salaries may vary, registered nurses and emergency department registered nurses both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "patients," "cpr," and "acute care. "Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A registered nurse uses "bls," "surgery," "quality care," and "infection control." Emergency department registered nurses are more likely to have duties that require skills in "life support," "patient outcomes," "tncc," and "emergency room. "The health care industry tends to pay the highest salaries for emergency department registered nurses, with average annual pay of $77,094. Comparatively, the highest registered nurse annual salary comes from the health care industry.emergency department registered nurses reach similar levels of education compared to registered nurses, in general. The difference is that they're 2.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of registered nurse

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
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.

What a registered nurse does FAQs

Search for registered nurse jobs

Browse healthcare practitioner and technical jobs