A strong resume serves as the vital backbone of a job application, showing your abilities to the best advantage to employers. When it comes to critical care, you know how to narrow in on the patient’s symptoms with laser focus to know what to treat first, how to stabilize them, and which problems to prioritize. Apply that same focus to your resume to understand its weakest areas and how to address them. Breathe new life back into your resume by trying our ICU nurse resume sample, which acts as a key teaching tool in developing your own using best practices and proven methodologies.
Reference our sample to inspire you and motivate you to rethink your experience and how you present it. Transform your resume from task-focused into achievement-oriented, and tap into the pulse of what employers and hiring managers look for in a successful candidate. Once you’ve reviewed our sample, take a look at our list of tips and tricks to give your resume that final polish and shine.
ICU Nurse Resume Sample
Shannon Helman
San Marcos, Texas 11111 • helmanshannon@emailservice • 555-873-9002
San Marcos, Texas 11111 • helmanshannon@emailservice • 555-873-9002
Summary
Compassionate ICU nurse providing critical care to patients with acute and chronic conditions in the ICU ward. Possess 7 years of experience working with physicians and other medical personnel to promote a higher standard of patient care, including ensuring effective treatment and pain management for patients in severe condition. Skilled at adapting treatment regimens to individualized patient needs or changes in condition to ensure the highest chances of recovery, patient satisfaction, and quality of life.
Skills
- Patient assessment and diagnosis
- Treatment planning
- Medication administration
- Palliative care
- Emergency response
- Patient rounds and monitoring
- Patient advocacy
- Physician and nurse collaboration
- Hospital process optimization
- Charts and records management
- Patient and family education
- Referrals
Work Experience
ICU Nurse, 2012 – Present
Our Sisters of Mercy Hospital, San Marcos, TX
Our Sisters of Mercy Hospital, San Marcos, TX
- Diagnose, treat, and monitor patients suffering from critical conditions in the intensive care unit of a 232-bed hospital
- Consult with doctors and specialists about changes in condition and potential adjustments to treatment regimens
- Ensure patient comfort through personalized attention and focus on providing the right treatment options to achieve patient recovery goals
- Administer medication and provide other forms of pain management as needed
- Refer patients to specialized care providers for further treatment and recovery options
- Stepped in during absence of nursing leadership to successfully handle a crisis with a bus crash involving 37 critical patients with minimal loss of life
- Improved patient intake capacity 22% by collaborating with nursing teams to restructure intake and assessment processes
ICU Nurse, 2008 – 2012
St. Sebastian Charity Hospital, San Marcos, TX
St. Sebastian Charity Hospital, San Marcos, TX
- Collaborated with physicians on treatment planning and monitoring of critical ICU patients
- Conducted periodical rounds to track the status of high-risk patients and respond to changes as needed
- Handled medication administration and therapeutic care
- Counseled patients and their families on continued treatment and recovery options on discharge
- Contributed to recruitment, training, and mentorship for 12 new nurses and 17 interns
- Boosted patient satisfaction 19% through compassionate care sensitive to patients’ individual situations and diverse backgrounds
Education
Bachelor of Nursing (2008)
University of Houston, Houston, TX
University of Houston, Houston, TX
Licensed Nurse (2008)
Texas Board of Nursing
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Is This a Good ICU Nurse Resume? Let’s Check
Does the sample resume provide a generalized overview of daily duties without pigeonholing in a single practice area?
ICU nurses may see patients with a variety of conditions in intensive care. While some nurses focus on specific practice areas, an ICU nurse should apply broad-based skills and show adaptability to a wide range of conditions. Focusing specifically on only a small few treatment areas could make your experience appear to be too narrow, without the flexibility required to treat all patients within the ICU. Rather than trying to cherry-pick focus areas in the general resume, instead customize your skills section like the one in our ICU nurse resume sample for individual job applications to include necessary disciplines if they’re requested in the job application.
Does the example candidate use her resume to demonstrate the compassion and sensitivity necessary to work with critical patients?
She does. Our sample candidate consistently focuses on a commitment to patient care and quality of life, with a clear dedication to making decisions that are best for the patient and their needs. Terms like “patient advocacy” used in the ICU nurse resume sample are key to conveying this and showing the soft skills needed to thrive in the role.
Does the ICU nurse resume sample emphasize collaboration with other hospital staff?
In both her past roles, the example candidate discusses working with other nursing staff and physicians, as well as working with external specialists for referrals. Collaboration is essential in a hospital environment, and potential employers need to know you can be a team player.
Is the example resume clear on the candidate’s supplementary skills, such as patient and family counseling?
Yes. In her resume, the example jobseeker discusses the vital skill of working with patients and families to counsel them on post-discharge care to continue recovery outside of the hospital environment. As a critical component of preventing further patient hospitalization, this skill is essential for an ICU nurse and highly coveted by many employers.
Does the ICU nurse resume sample maintain a focus on patient advocacy and quality of care?
Indeed. The example candidate even has metrics to show how her contributions to care improvement raised the standard for patient care, increased capacity for patient intake, elevated patient satisfaction, and ensured effective response in the face of a crisis. These improvements not only show impact on a humanitarian level but also have a key impact on bottom-line hospital operations and profitability/cost control. Employers look for these sorts of contributions to determine who will be a true asset to their organization, so be sure to show results where you can.
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The Most Important ICU Nurse Resume Sample Takeaways
When your job is life and death, it’s difficult to think of rendering the impact of such weighty responsibilities down to a simple one to two page document. Yet by focusing on your dedication to patient advocacy, mixing a combination of strong nursing skills with compassionate soft skills, and detailing the impact you’ve had on patient lives, you can tailor your resume to convey the qualities hospitals and medical practices seek in a qualified ICU nurse. Use our ICU nurse resume sample as a jumping-off point and combine it with our resume builder tool to write your own standout document.
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