Nursing Resume

Nursing, one of the oldest and noblest of professions, has never grown out of popularity. Up to this day, the job is as sought after, as it was fifty years back, mainly due to the prestige and goodwill attached to the profession. As the number of candidates for the job is plenty, you need to prepare a nursing resume which stands on its own, separate from the rest due to its emphasis on medicinal and technical knowledge, as well as its emphasis on educational qualifications and previous work experience, if any.

For your convenience, we have provided you with a step by step way of going about building a nursing resume below. But first, let us have a look at the demands of a nursing job, and the role it plays in the health care industry.

The Various Demands and Roles of a Nursing Job

The job of a nurse is varying and tends to be stressful as one is required to work diligently with patients day in and day out, sometimes even 24/7, depending upon the schedule assigned to the nurse.

Variations in the nursing job occur depending upon their functions- from having to look after the personal hygiene of the patients and their overall welfare (includes feeding, bathing, clothing, and giving the correct medicines in the right dosages to the patients, at the right time) to helping the doctor(s) in the examination clinic or operational theater, and having excellent knowledge on first aid applications; to say that a nursing job is demanding would be a big understatement.

Nurses play a very important role in health care as without them, the doctors would be overworked and more likely to suffer "lapses", which in the field of medicine, may prove to be outright disastrous.

Scope in Nursing

The nursing field has a lot of scope and opportunities for a person interested in pursuing a career in it. A hospital nurse is eligible for promotions and incentives as she or he gains experiences over the years. She or he may also leave a smaller hospital/clinic for a more prestigious one, if she or he so desires after accumulating enough experience. On the other hand, a domestic nurse or a school nurse enjoys the peace and comfort of a pleasant, private environment with a lot less stress than working in a hospital. A domestic or school nurse gets to avail of much superior living quarters as well.

Now that we have learnt about the particulars of a nursing job, let us have a look at going about preparing a nursing resume.

Building a Nursing Resume

Start off the nursing resume like how you do any other resume, that is, with the personal details of the candidate including name, address, and contact information (phone and email id).

Next comes the objective part of the resume. In the objective (which should ideally be only one or two sentences and no more) you may mention how much you value the work of a nurse, the immense satisfaction you gain out of helping people in need, and how you are looking forward to utilizing your medical knowledge and skills to their complete capabilities for the benefit of the hospital, school or home.

The third section of the nursing resume tends to be the most important one as it deals with the educational qualifications of the candidate. You need to state the highest degree you have attained from the nursing school you attended, including the year you graduated from school, and other achievements you have attained related to the medical and social fields during your academic years.

Previous work experience is the next portion. Most candidates who prepare a nursing resume tend to be freshmen, but if you do have previous experience of any kind, then nothing like it. Make sure to note down how efficient you were in your previous nursing job, in terms of attending to patients and carrying out the doctor's advices, when it came to the administration of medicines to the patients. If you were popular with the staff and/or patients of your previous workplace, you need to mention it in your resume as nursing is one profession where a pleasing and kindly personality matters to an extremely high degree.

The last part of the nursing resume happens to be the skills one possesses for the job. Here, the candidate may list down (in a bullet format) everything from: her or his in-depth knowledge and comfort when it comes to dealing with prescribed drugs, ability to comprehend orders under stressful situations like; for example, to be able to hand out the required medical tools to the doctor during a surgery as well as administer the right amount of anesthesia to the patient. Other notable skills a nurse should posses- dedication to work, and a kind and sincere personality which helps her or him bond with the patients.

As you can see, the nursing resume is one of the easiest professional resumes to prepare. Ultimately, it all comes down to your medical knowledge, people skills, and ability to function excellently under pressure.