In medical surgical nursing, show your clinical skills and certifications clearly. These are critical in this field. Mention hands-on experience with patient care and any specialized surgical procedures you know. This information helps you stand out to employers as they look for nurses with specific surgical skills.

For this nursing specialty, include any certifications aside from basic licensing, like a Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification (MSNC). Also, detail any training with new medical technologies or equipment specific to surgical nursing. This shows employers you are ready to work with their tools and methods.

When you apply for a medical-surgical nursing position, show that your skills are a good match. Your resume should tell about your relevant experience and training clearly. This helps the hiring manager see you're right for the job.

• List specific nursing skills, like managing patient care or giving medication, to show your hands-on experience.
• For a leadership role, mention the number of nurses you've led or training sessions you've run.
• If you're new to this field, link your past work to nursing by showing similar tasks, like assisting patients or handling emergencies.

As a hiring manager looking for a medical surgical nurse, you need to see evidence of hands-on patient care and technical skills. Your verb choice on your resume should reflect your active role in direct patient care, treatments, and collaboration with healthcare teams. Highlight your responsibilities with verbs that show your participation and impact.

Here are some verbs that can help you describe your nursing experience effectively:

• To show your involvement in patient care, use monitored, administered, assessed, documented, and managed.
• To demonstrate your skills in a fast-paced environment, include verbs like responded, coordinated, implemented, triaged, and stabilized.
• When highlighting teamwork and collaboration, use verbs such as collaborated, communicated, delegated, instructed, and supported.
• To showcase your attention to detail and precision, use calibrated, measured, recorded, verified, and observed.
• For leadership and initiative in nursing activities, verbs like led, initiated, directed, supervised, and organized are effective.

Want inspiration for other action verbs you can use? Check out synonyms to commonly used action verbs like In charge of, Produced, Obtain, Communicated, Work on.

When crafting your resume, it's important to focus on the specific skills that show you're a good fit for medical surgical nursing. Here's a list of key skills you might include:

• Physical assessment
• Medication administration
• Wound care
• IV therapy
• Post-operative care
• Patient education
• Telemetry monitoring
• Infection control
• Emergency response
• Electronic health record (EHR) management

You don't need to include every skill, but choose the ones that best match your experience and the job you want. Place these skills in a dedicated section on your resume to help it pass Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), which many hospitals use to filter resumes. Remember, the ATS might search for specific skills, so use the exact terms found in the job description when possible.

As a hiring manager, I know that evidence of leadership and career progression is key. You should highlight these if you have them. Here's how you can do that for a role in medical surgical nursing.

• Include any titles that show you have moved up, like 'senior nurse' or 'charge nurse.' This shows you have been trusted with more responsibility.
• List any times you've led a team or project, like managing a unit's shift schedule or leading a patient care initiative. Use simple phrases like 'Led a team of 5 nurses' to show your leadership.

Think about your work and find times you've guided others or helped make decisions. Training new staff or being a part of a policy change committee are good examples. Make sure to include these in your resume to show you are ready for more responsibility.

Using numbers to show your impact as a medical surgical nurse can make your resume stronger. Metrics help hiring managers see the results of your work. Common metrics in this field include patient recovery times, infection rates, and patient satisfaction scores.

Think about ways to measure your work. For example, you can show how you helped reduce patient recovery times by a certain percentage. You can also mention how your care led to high patient satisfaction scores. If you were part of a team that reduced infection rates, include that too.

Even if you do not have exact numbers, you can estimate. Consider how often you received positive feedback from patients or how often your ward met its recovery goals. Use these estimates to give a clear picture of your impact.

When you apply for a medical-surgical nursing position, the size of the healthcare facility can guide how you craft your resume. For larger hospitals like Mayo Clinic or Johns Hopkins Hospital, focus on showcasing your ability to handle complex cases and work with interdisciplinary teams. It's good to highlight experiences that show you can follow strict protocols and work efficiently in a high-paced environment.

On the other hand, if you're targeting smaller clinics or healthcare startups, emphasize your flexibility and broad skill set. Facilities like these may require you to wear many hats, so showing that you are adaptable and can manage diverse tasks will be to your advantage. You might include phrases like 'versatile skill set in patient care' or 'proven adaptability in various medical settings.'

• For larger organizations: 'Experienced in high-volume patient care with strong teamwork skills.'
• For smaller settings: 'Adept at providing personalized patient care and managing multiple roles.'