What does a senior registered nurse do?
A senior registered nurse is a superior healthcare professional who provides high-quality palliative care to patients and their families. Senior registered nurses are required to liaise between patients and other healthcare professionals, such as physicians, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists. They lead a team of registered nurses and care assistants to ensure that they follow the hospital's best practice care standards. Senior registered nurses also administer and order medicines as required by patients and the hospital's policies and procedures.
Senior registered nurse responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior registered nurse resumes:
- Code team member, triage, manage a team of 5 patients and 3 providers.
- Manage patient pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention, monitor patient response and record care plans accordingly.
- Care for critically ill patients in the ICU.
- Provide triage, referrals, direct nursing care, and medication administration to incarcerate population.
- Elbow support for new Cerner EMR system.
- Implement and coordinate unit education programs covering CPR and newborn care.
- Provide & conduct training, direction, and guidance for rehabilitation staff.
- Work as a charge nurse on an orthopedic and acute rehabilitation unit.
- Enhance professional growth by attending educational opportunities pertaining to ICU nursing.
- Combine advance medical knowledge and technical expertise with compassion and strong interpersonal skills.
- Instill confidence and positive attitude toward new EMR documentation with minimal disruption of workflows.
- Develop, implement, and evaluate plans of care for the medical-surgical and oncology patient populations.
- Administer intravenous medications, blood and blood products, oral medications, injections and monitor patients for effectiveness of medications administer.
- Furnish extensive emotional and educational support to patients and family members regarding patient progress, prognosis, preparation and post-operative procedures.
- Manage patient pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention, monitor patient response and record care plans accordingly.
Senior registered nurse skills and personality traits
We calculated that 14% of Senior Registered Nurses are proficient in Patients, Home Health, and Acute Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Senior Registered Nurses that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 14%
Administer intravenous medications, blood and blood products, oral medications, injections and monitor patients for effectiveness of medications administered.
- Home Health, 9%
Coordinated with doctors, clinics, home health agencies and hospice to develop care plans for residents.
- Acute Care, 6%
Provided acute care nursing services to adults on a fast-paced, medical/surgical/telemetry unit in a major, metropolitan, teaching hospital.
- Care Coordination, 6%
Manage a team of 8 direct reports in providing care coordination for Medicaid and SCHIP recipients.
- Discharge Planning, 5%
Coordinated multidisciplinary teams to provide safe discharge planning and follow-up teaching referrals.
- BLS, 5%
Provide stabilization, Resuscitation and other life support measures in cases of arrests in line with ACLS, BLS.2.
"patients," "home health," and "acute care" are among the most common skills that senior registered nurses use at work. You can find even more senior registered nurse responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a senior registered nurse to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "registered nurses must be able to communicate effectively with patients in order to understand their concerns and evaluate their health conditions." Senior registered nurses often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "administer medications, maintain ivs, facilitate admissions and transfers, therapeutic communication with patients and families. "
Compassion. Another essential skill to perform senior registered nurse duties is compassion. Senior registered nurses responsibilities require that "registered nurses should be caring and empathetic when working with patients." Senior registered nurses also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "combine advanced medical knowledge and technical expertise with compassion and strong interpersonal skills. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for senior registered nurses to perform their duties. For an example of how senior registered nurse responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "registered nurses must be precise because they must ensure that patients get the correct treatments and medicines at the right time." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior registered nurse: "administer medication as per dr's order with details to the rights of medication administration. ".
Emotional stability. A big part of what senior registered nurses do relies on "emotional stability." You can see how essential it is to senior 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 senior registered nurse tasks: "established therapeutic relationship and provided emotional support to patients and families during challenging moments during their hospital stay. "
Organizational skills. Another common skill required for senior registered nurse responsibilities is "organizational skills." This skill comes up in the duties of senior registered nurses all the time, as "nurses often work with multiple patients who have a variety of health needs." An excerpt from a real senior registered nurse resume shows how this skill is central to what a senior registered nurse does: "displayed excellent interpersonal, professionalism and organizational skills while working as an independent rn on site. "
Physical stamina. While "physical stamina" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to senior registered nurse responsibilities. Much of what a senior registered nurse does relies on this skill, seeing as "nurses should be comfortable performing physical tasks, such as lifting patients." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of senior registered nurses: "coordinated discharge planning in collaboration with the medical team, care coordinator, social work, and physical and occupational therapy. "
The three companies that hire the most senior registered nurses are:
- BAYADA Home Health Care171 senior registered nurses jobs
- Sharp HealthCare132 senior registered nurses jobs
- Parkland Hospital65 senior registered nurses jobs
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Compare different senior registered nurses
Senior registered nurse vs. Nurse extern
The job of a nurse extern is to assist the mentor nurse in their nursing duties. They help the mentor nurse in various medical procedures such as administering medications or starting intravenous therapies. They provide or help with personal patient care, including changing bed linens, oral hygiene, and bathing. Nurse externships typically have different requirements that include having finished nursing school, completing a clinical nursing course before the training, and being registered in a nursing program.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, senior registered nurse responsibilities require skills like "home health," "acute care," "care coordination," and "bls." Meanwhile a typical nurse extern has skills in areas such as "direct supervision," "patient care," "medical-surgical," and "blood pressure." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Nurse externs really shine in the health care industry with an average salary of $39,085. Comparatively, senior registered nurses tend to make the most money in the health care industry with an average salary of $85,104.nurse externs tend to reach similar levels of education than senior registered nurses. In fact, nurse externs are 1.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Senior 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.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior registered nurse responsibilities requires skills like "home health," "care coordination," "community resources," and "medical necessity." But a staff nurse might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "dexterity," "oncology," "quality care," and "manual dexterity."
On average, staff nurses earn a lower salary than senior registered nurses. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, staff nurses earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $58,739. Whereas senior registered nurses have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $85,104.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Staff nurses tend to reach similar levels of education than senior registered nurses. In fact, they're 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior registered nurses in the next 3-5 years?
Lisa Rebeschi Ph.D.
Associate Dean of the School of Nursing Professor of Nursing, Quinnipiac University
Senior registered nurse vs. Head nurse
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.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a senior registered nurse is likely to be skilled in "home health," "care coordination," "community resources," and "rehabilitation," while a typical head nurse is skilled in "oncology," "patient care," "clinical supervision," and "medical assistants."
Head nurses earn the highest salary when working in the education industry, where they receive an average salary of $80,362. Comparatively, senior registered nurses have the highest earning potential in the health care industry, with an average salary of $85,104.When it comes to education, head nurses tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior registered nurses. In fact, they're 1.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior registered nurse vs. Advanced registered nurse practitioner
Even though a few skill sets overlap between senior registered nurses and advanced registered nurse practitioners, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a senior registered nurse might have more use for skills like "care coordination," "discharge planning," "bls," and "community resources." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of advanced registered nurse practitioners require skills like "arnp," "patient care," "diagnosis," and "health problems. "
In general, advanced registered nurse practitioners earn the most working in the health care industry, with an average salary of $103,277. The highest-paying industry for a senior registered nurse is the health care industry.The average resume of advanced registered nurse practitioners showed that they earn higher levels of education compared to senior registered nurses. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 44.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 2.3%.Types of senior registered nurse
Updated January 8, 2025
