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Triage nurse skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Terrica Durbin Ph.D.,

Terrica Durbin Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical triage nurse skills. We ranked the top skills for triage nurses based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 29.8% of triage nurse resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a triage nurse needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 triage nurse skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how triage nurses use patients:

Coordinated patient intake/discharge, prepared patients for procedures, started IVs and assisted physician in procedural execution.
Coordinated out-patient procedures using protocols for patients needing IV medication treatments as prescribed by physicians.

2. Home Health

Here's how triage nurses use home health:

Take all phone messages for nursing homes, home health agencies, patient stats, and health questions for the Doctors.
Participate in monthly orientation of new staff, teaching Home Health Safety; Coordinate and maintain monthly scheduling of all staff members

3. Patient Education

Here's how triage nurses use patient education:

Administered chemotherapy and patient education to ensure comprehensive understanding of processes, procedures, and answer any patient questions.
Provided patient education and performed other general nursing duties as required by facility in an ambulatory care setting.

4. Test Results

Here's how triage nurses use test results:

Communicate physician recommendations regarding test results and follow up appointments.
Analyze records, reports, test results, and/or examination information to prevent and/or diagnose illness, disease or injury.

5. Symptom Management

Symptom management is the prevention or the earliest possible treatment of the symptoms of a disease, the side effects caused by the treatment of a disease, and the mental, social, and spiritual problems associated with a disease or its treatment. This treatment is given to prevent, control or alleviate complications and side effects, and to improve the comfort and quality of life of the patient.

Here's how triage nurses use symptom management:

Provided emergency symptom management in the home or long-term care/assisted living facility.
Teach and educate families on symptom management methodologies.

6. Urgent Care

Urgent care provides assistance to patients on an immediate basis. Although the problems requiring this swift attention are not life threatening, if not seen to it immediately, they may become a bigger problem. Therefore, time plays a crucial role in such situations.

Here's how triage nurses use urgent care:

Functioned as Triage Nurse as well as carrying charge nurse responsibilities in a high volume Pediatric Urgent Care.
Direct access to care to include emergent care, urgent care, and routine/ same day appointments.

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7. Direct Patient Care

Here's how triage nurses use direct patient care:

Provided direct patient care in all aspects of home infusion therapy-Provided coordination and implementation of patient care plan under direction of physician
Assist physicians in direct patient care in the clinic, answer triage calls and schedule patient appointments.

8. Emergency Situations

Here's how triage nurses use emergency situations:

Demonstrated comprehensive knowledge, skill, judgment and decision making skills and responded accordingly with emergency situations.
Intervene in emergency situations for best patient outcome, provided overall home evaluations for community servicing.

9. Telephone Triage

Here's how triage nurses use telephone triage:

Provided medical support through telephone triage to Kaiser's 850,000 Mid-Atlantic patients utilizing an extensive medical protocol computerized database.
Managed large patient volume, performed telephone triage, allergy and immunization administration and assisted with medical procedures

10. Primary Care

Here's how triage nurses use primary care:

Lead clinical professional for 5-physician primary care office environment serving adult and pediatric populations.
Furnish medical advice per established protocols and as directed by primary care provider.

11. Acute Care

The branch of secondary healthcare which is responsible for giving short-term care to patients recovering from severe injuries or urgent medical problems is known as acute care. Acute care comprises multiple domains like; emergency care, urgent care, short-term stabilization, pre-hospital care, critical care, and trauma care.

Here's how triage nurses use acute care:

Provided mental and physical health evaluations in an acute care mental health emergency room.
Provided phone triage consisting of acute care assessments and chronically ill patient reports/requests.

12. Prescription Refills

Here's how triage nurses use prescription refills:

Acted as first line contact for patients calling in with needs, problems, prescription refills and general education needs.
Answered phones and compiled necessary information for prescription refills, insurance prior authorizations, & referrals.

13. OSHA

Here's how triage nurses use osha:

Maintain sterile technique and personal protective equipment protocols as set by the hospital, State of Mass and OSHA.
Assisted in maintaining and updating OSHA and MSDS information logs.

14. Medical Advice

Here's how triage nurses use medical advice:

Assess the condition of the patient and dispensing medical advice as per protocol for those patients.
Provide medical advice as per approved triage reference book and physician guidelines.

15. Phone Triage

Here's how triage nurses use phone triage:

Handle range of medical issues, secretarial duties, scheduling appointments, addressing insurance issues, and phone triage.
Tasked with phone triage, nurse visits and general consultation of cardiac conditions for an array of cardiac patients.

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What skills help Triage Nurses find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on triage nurse resumes?

Terrica Durbin Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Director, School of Nursing, Western Carolina University

Communication, critical thinking, patient assessment, problem-solving, clinical skills specific to the nurse's setting, electronic recordkeeping, flexibility.

What soft skills should all triage nurses possess?

Terrica Durbin Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Director, School of Nursing, Western Carolina University

Communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, flexibility.

What hard/technical skills are most important for triage nurses?

Terrica Durbin Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Director, School of Nursing, Western Carolina University

Clinical skills specific to the nurse's setting, electronic recordkeeping, patient assessment, and prioritizing appropriate interventions.

What triage nurse skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Kara Sump MSN, CNE

Assistant Professor of Nursing, George Fox University

Communication will never go away, but is moving to a highly virtual format. You need to be able to articulate well in writing and orally. You also need to be relatable and personable. Working interprofessionally and collaboratively is going to be the expectation. Managing high volumes of information in shorter time periods. This is usually seen through the electronic health records and electronic communication.

What type of skills will young triage nurses need?

Jeffery Christian

Professor, Sac City

The more things change, the more they stay the same. With that said, there will always be universal skills that are required for the nursing profession. Skills such as being a great listener. A great listener to me is a nurse who has empathy. A nurse who has empathy can put themselves in the patient's shoes and therefore, will be better at meeting that particular patient's needs. A nurse with empathy will know how to ask the right questions, in a way that is nonjudgmental, and uses open-ended questions that empower the patient to share their true self.

Building relationships with patients is vital for patient education and teaching. So much of nursing is teaching. If the nurse does not have the skill of relationship building, many opportunities to truly create change in the patient's life will be lost. When we (the nursing profession) truly see and understand what our patient's lives look like, then we put ourselves and our patients in the best possible position to create life-long change.

Life-long learning - nursing is based on Evidence-Based Practice. What that means is that the nursing profession is constantly researching and developing best practices. That means, if you are entering the profession, you have to be quick to adapt and open to constant change. Even more so than open, eager to find the best way to deliver world-class patient care.

Maintaining life balance - I have been a nurse for 28 years, and this profession is much more difficult now than it was when I started. In order for bedside nurses to be effective, and to not develop compassion fatigue/burnout... homeostasis has to be achieved. A young nurse just entering the profession has to know how to keep balance. Whether it is yoga, journaling, exercising, eating well, sleeping well,... all of these components have to be in balance so the nurse can come to work refreshed and recharged.

Obviously - one of the key components to being a great nurse and having sustainability in this profession is to be a critical thinker. Nothing is as it seems, and this profession demands nurses to constantly be on their toes and to be thinking critically about why they do what they do. Whether it is passing a specific medication, performing a diagnostic test, ... the ability to constantly think critically is vital for patient safety.
There are so many more, but I have to get back to work, and this is taking longer than I thought...

Do you want to know more?

List of triage nurse skills to add to your resume

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

Patients
Home Health
Patient Education
Test Results
Symptom Management
Urgent Care
Direct Patient Care
Emergency Situations
Telephone Triage
Primary Care
Acute Care
Prescription Refills
OSHA
Medical Advice
Phone Triage
Vital Signs

Team Work
EKG
IV
Emergency Room
Medical Assistants
Standing Orders
Medical Care
Telephone Calls
Health Education
Medication Administration
Medical History
Medication Refills
Appointment Scheduling
Disease Management
Patient Phone Calls
Community Resources

Medical Equipment
Triage Calls
OB
Internal Medicine
Physician Orders
Assessment
Patient Flow
Phlebotomy
Patient Assessment
Office Procedures
Lab Results
Resuscitation
Patient Appointments
Blood Pressure
Medicaid
Patient Triage

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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Triage Nurse Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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