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Trauma 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 trauma nurse skills. We ranked the top skills for trauma nurses based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 25.0% of trauma nurse resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a trauma nurse needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 trauma nurse skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how trauma nurses use patients:

Administered, monitored and recovered patients who had received anesthetic agents and supportive treatments for moderate sedation.
Treated patients with traumatic injuries, identifying crisis symptoms and conducting intake procedures under difficult conditions.

2. BLS

Here's how trauma nurses use bls:

Core Course [TNCC] (ACLS, BLS, PALS, MICN)
Received bonus for participation in professional development program by obtaining oncology certification and BLS instructor certification.

3. Acls

Here's how trauma nurses use acls:

Placed IV's, catheters, phlebotomy, performed CPR, EKG's, assisted the ER MD in ACLS events.
Demonstrated effective response to crises situations and prevented patient deterioration by early intervention and use of ACLS protocols.

4. Critical Care

Here's how trauma nurses use critical care:

Float regularly to specified critical care divisions of nursing servicing a predominately financially challenged community.
Certified Critical Care Nursing Certification 1994

5. ICU

ICU means intensive care units. It also has a name known as the critical care unit or intensive therapy unit. The ICU handles patients experiencing acute diseases or severe injuries that need specialized treatment procedures by specific professionals.

Here's how trauma nurses use icu:

Experience in Mobile ICU operation transporting catastrophically injured clients via helicopter.
Provide care to level 1,2 & 3 trauma patients admitted to the floor service, Trauma&Surgical ICU.

6. Triage

Triage is a method of prioritizing a patient or a group depending on the severity, diagnosis, and condition of the disease needing immediate medical care. It is often to determine a condition and identifying the appropriate destination before assessing where the patient will be going. A triage nurse commonly performs it.

Here's how trauma nurses use triage:

Provided initial and advanced triage assessments for acutely ill patients ranging from infant/pediatric to geriatric in a 531-bed tertiary care center.
Coordinated with multiple EMS and Ambulance call centers to triage and prioritize patient care and emergency department assignment and flow.

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7. Certifications

Here's how trauma nurses use certifications:

Assisted management staff and administration by maintaining Trauma Center certifications and assuring JCAHO compliance were achieved and standards were maintained.
Maintained additional certifications, ongoing education, and attended trauma conferences.

8. Quality Care

Here's how trauma nurses use quality care:

Provided direct quality care to patients including daily monitoring, recording, and evaluating psychiatric medical conditions.
Perform high quality care and apply critical thinking to ensure patient health care needs are met and patient satisfaction.

9. Direct Patient Care

Here's how trauma nurses use direct patient care:

Provided direct patient care and assessments, Instructor for LPN's and Nurse Aides, collaborated with all parties of medical.
Involved in direct patient care as an independent nurse who carries out primary and secondary assessment of the patient.

10. 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 trauma nurses use cpr:

Administered oral suctioning, O2 therapy, CPR, and ECG monitoring under direction of the RN, MD and PA.
Assisted in the trauma room with CPR, post-mortem care, family notification, vital signs, lab runs, etc.

11. TNCC

Here's how trauma nurses use tncc:

Establish contacts for TNCC Program.
Initiated a satellite TNCC program providing TNCC to over 200 professional nurses Fort Jackson, Fort Benning and Fort Stewart.

12. Patient Safety

Here's how trauma nurses use patient safety:

Prioritize and delegate tasks appropriately without compromising patient safety.
Provide safe and adequate conscious sedation as required for procedure, in order to maintain patient safety and comfort.

13. Emergency Room

Here's how trauma nurses use emergency room:

Work with newly hired nurses to provide the education and training necessary to become proficient as an emergency room nurse.
Busy 50 + bed level II trauma emergency room, where I work as a staff RN and trauma nurse.

14. Advanced Life Support

Here's how trauma nurses use advanced life support:

Monitored and interpreted equipment data to perform lifesaving emergency response following Advanced Life Support guidelines in the absence of a physician.
Acquired and maintained advanced cardiac life support and pediatric advanced life support certification during employment.

15. Compassion

Here's how trauma nurses use compassion:

Earned Caring Spirit Award, 2010 * Received multiple ICARE Acknowledge for Outstanding, Compassion and Respect.
Leveraged compassion in facilitating pain management and completing prescribed treatments including dosage changes, blood glucose checks, and ambulation.

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What skills help Trauma 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 trauma 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 trauma 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 trauma 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 trauma 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 trauma 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 trauma nurse skills to add to your resume

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

Patients
BLS
Acls
Critical Care
ICU
Triage
Certifications
Quality Care
Direct Patient Care
CPR
TNCC
Patient Safety
Emergency Room
Advanced Life Support
Compassion
Rehabilitation

Home Health
Vital Signs
Physician Orders
PI
Trauma Care
Discharge Planning
IV
Data Collection
Trauma Registry
Trauma Program
Medical Care
Resuscitation
Patient Assessment
Emergency Situations
Level II Trauma
Patient Education

Chemotherapy
QI
Emergency Care
EKG
Peer Review
Pediatric Trauma
Memorial Hospital
Patient Satisfaction
EMS
Administer Medications
Emergency Nursing
Catheter
Trauma Activations
QA
Traction
EMR

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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Trauma Nurse Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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