CV Example Nurse

This could be in a private practice or in a health care institution, such as a hospital, clinic or retirement home. No matter the location, nurses have a lot of responsibilities and need to be willing to work nights, weekends and holidays.

Whether you’re an experienced nurse or a newly qualified one, we’re here to help you stand out from the crowd with our writing tips and our nurse CV example.

Personal statement or profile

Your personal statement or personal profile is your chance to show prospective employers your passion for nursing and why you would be an asset to their organisation.

Given the demands of nursing and long hours, be prepared to discuss your personal qualities as well as your clinical skills, that make you qualified for the job.

The best personal statement demonstrates a passion for nursing and unique traits that may make you an excellent nurse or candidate:

Profile

I am a Registered Nurse with 8 years of experience in providing care to elderly patients with complex health needs. My training and experience lies in working with patients with acute and chronic conditions and delivering emergency medical care. I am NMC registered and have an advanced nursing degree. I am now seeking a role as a senior nurse within a care home setting.

Work experience

Hiring managers want to make sure that your experience is relevant for their institution. As nurses could work in a variety of settings (hospitals, care homes, clinics, healthcare providers, schools, prisons, etc.), it’s wise to be as specific as possible when listing your tasks and responsibilities.

You could include information relating to:

• Trauma level: level I, II, III
• Unit type (ICU, ER, PICU, etc.)
• Facility types (i.e. urgent care, nursing home, etc.)
• Number of hospital beds
• Number of unit beds
• Patient demographics
• Whether you used EMR or EHR (or both)

Work experience

Apr 2018 – present Senior Nurse, Woodfield Hospital, Ipswich

• Provide daily care for 6 elderly patients after major surgical procedures in an ICU unit by monitoring vital signs and administering medication.
• Collaborate with doctors to develop long-term care plans after hospital stays.
• Supervise 4 Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) working in the unit.

Feb 2014 - March 2018 Registered Nurse, Ashfield Care Home, Kent

• Worked with the unit manager to take care of 35 frail and elderly patients with complex health needs.
• Responsible for administering medicine safely, in accordance with the Nursing Midwifery Council guidelines.
• Managed the unit’s revenue and budget, including the allocation of funds for patient care, equipment, and staff supplies.

Nov 2013 - Jan 2014 Healthcare Assistant, Chase Care Home, Suffolk

• Responsible for the safety and well-being of elderly people with dementia and challenging behaviour.
• Worked with palliative care teams to help deliver end of life care to patients.

Education

To work as an adult nurse in the UK, you need to be registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC). To register, you need to complete a pre-registration adult nursing programme run at an NMC-approved educational institution (AEI).

Training usually lasts three years full time (four years in Scotland or if you're doing a joint degree) and includes clinical practice, giving you experience of working with patients in a range of different settings (hospitals, care homes, etc.).

If you’ve already completed a degree in a health-related subject or completed an apprenticeship, you may be able to get a place on a two-year accelerated pre-registration postgraduate programme in adult nursing.

Education

Sep 2010 - Jul 2013 Adult Nursing BSc Hons: 2:1, University of London

• Modules included: integrated approaches to complex care, principles of prescribing, acute care management and working collaboratively with people with long term-conditions.
• Completed clinical placements at London healthcare trusts: Barts Health NHS Trust, and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Sep 2008 - Jun 2010 A-Level: Access to Nursing, Nottingham College, Nottingham

Skills

As a nurse, you’ll need to demonstrate excellent clinical skills, such as the ability to identify conditions, side effects of medication, and when treatments are not working.

However, the human aspect is also an innate part of nursing. That’s why it’s important to include some soft skills in your CV. While you can’t learn these on a course, you can develop them through experience, over time.

These soft skills include the ability to keep calm in stressful situations, ability to adapt, resilience and many more:

Skills

• ICU: Experience delivering Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) to patients with chronic health conditions.
• Leadership: Supervising CNAs and organised patient charts.
• Empathy: Navigating sensitive situations (abuse and mental disorders).
• Communication: Ability to communicate crucial and sensitive information to families.
• Time management: Delivering medications, drips, and evaluations are required at timely intervals.

Certifications

To enter the nursing profession, you’ll need to demonstrate the basic skills needed to save a life, whether you work in a hospice setting, an intensive care unit or in a hospital.

The level of support you’ll be required to give, will depend on your seniority and level of experience. In the UK, Basic Life Support (BLS) training is mandatory for registered nurses and healthcare assistants and Advanced Life Support (ALS) for nurses working in acute care:

Certifications

Jan 2015 Advanced Life Support (ALS) - Day 2 Course, A&A Training Ltd

• Airway management
• High-quality CPR and defibrillation
• Cardiac arrest management

Professional Affiliations

As mentioned, to practice as a nurse in the UK, you need to be registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC), the professional regulator of nurses, midwives and nursing associates.

There are also other professional nursing bodies and organisations, such as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which can help expand your network, offer support and increase your career opportunities:

Professional affiliations

Jul 2013 – present Nursery and Midwifery Council (NMC)

Apr 2018 - present Royal College of Nursing

Volunteer Experience

Volunteering can be a great way to gain valuable experience in nursing or bridge knowledge gaps. By volunteering, you could expand your knowledge of healthcare-related issues or specific health conditions, gain experience of working with specific patient groups or specific health conditions and much more:

Volunteer experience

Jul 2013 - Oct 2013 Volunteer Nurse, Brantley Medical Centre, York

• Reviewed patient medical records and made recommendations to nursing staff accordingly.
• Provided assistance to doctors as needed.
• Conducted urine and blood tests on individual patients as required.

Format and layout

Format

Nursing is a regulated profession and requires a certain amount of knowledge and training to perform specific tasks.

That’s why a reverse-chronological CV is best, where the different sections are laid out in date order (with your most recent experience first) to allow recruiters to quickly spot whether you have the requisite experience and training.

If you’re a newly-qualified nurse, you can prioritise your education, training and volunteer experience.

Layout and design

In the medical sector, a certain level of professionalism is expected. In this sense, recruiters do not expect you to be creative in your CV. On the contrary, present a neat and clear document by limiting the number of colours to two or three in rather sombre shades, in line with the profession. Use a CV template or resume template to ease the process of building a great-looking resume or CV.

Also, make use of white space and use bold and larger font sizes to emphasise headings and titles.

Create your CV as a nurse now!