15+ Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Resume Skills

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Plus, we’ve compiled a CNA skills list that you can add to your CNA resume and CNA cover letter to make sure your application stands out:

Hard CNA skills to put on your resume

Hard skills are technical talents you learned in school, on the job, through certification programs, or professional training.

Employers may assume you’re good-natured and dedicated because you’re a nurse. But they also want to see hard proof that you have the experience to handle different situations and take care of patients’ needs with compassion.

Remember to include these skills in your answers when you prepare responses to common CNA interview questions.

A CNA resume should include the following nursing assistant skills:

1. Patient care

Patient care involves the diagnosis, control of illness, recovery, and maintenance of patients’ physical and mental well-being. As a nursing assistant, your job is to check that patients get the medication and treatment they need to recover quickly.

For example, you need to ensure the patient isn’t eating or drinking anything that may compromise an upcoming procedure like surgery.

Here are some patient care-related skills to include in your CNA resume:

Prenatal care
Geriatric care
Home care
Hospice care
Maternal care
Neonatal care
Pediatric care
Psychiatric care

2. Infection control

Infection control entails recognizing and controlling diseases to reduce their spread.

When a patient is admitted to a health facility, your job as a CNA is to document any existing infections and ensure infected patients are monitored for signs of improvement. You’re also responsible for cleaning and sterilizing areas to prevent the spread of the infection.

Including infection control as one of your CNA resume skills tells the employer that you’re familiar with responsibilities associated with the CNA role if you have on-the-job experience, or that you can fit in quickly (if your experience was gained outside of nursing).

Infection control-related skills for your resume include:

Cleaning and disinfection
Dry sterile dressing application
Equipment sterilization
Isolation of infected patients
Management of open wounds
Transparent wound dressings

3. Safety and rehabilitation

Patient safety is another vital CNA clinical skill.

As a CNA, you must do everything possible to protect patients from falls, medication errors, infections, and other hazards that can hinder their rehabilitation.

You’ll also need to encourage the patient to take care of themselves and do all the workouts necessary for their recovery.

Highlighting your safety and rehabilitation skills tells employers that you know how to ensure patients’ safety at all times.

Other skills related to safety and rehabilitation to add to your CNA resume include:

Bedside monitoring
Managing medications
Patient assessment
Patient education
Physical examination

4. Administrative skills

As a nursing assistant, you’ll have a mix of administrative tasks in addition to patient care.

These responsibilities include:

Filing paperwork
Delivering vital information
Answering patients’ inquiries and responding to phone calls
Scheduling doctor visits for patients and ensuring the patient
Remaining compliant with regulations

Employers want to know that you won’t struggle with these responsibilities.

So including administrative skills in your resume proves to the hiring manager that you can stay organized and communicate effectively.

The CNA skills list below highlights other administrative-related skills:

Computer skills
Data entry
Email
Record keeping

5. Knowledge of medical terminology

As a nursing assistant, you often have to explain a doctor’s orders to patients who don’t understand them.

You should know basic medical terms to determine what types of illnesses or diseases a patient may have. This knowledge will help you understand how to assist in treatments and recognize symptoms that may develop with particular disorders.

A nursing assistant without any knowledge of medical terminology will struggle when working with patients, nurses, and doctors. So, an understanding of medical terminology is one CNA clinical skill recruiters look for in a resume.

Listed below are skills similar to knowledge of medical terminology to add to your resume:

Consultation
Documentation
Family education
Interpreting medical tests
Making referrals to specialists
Patients’ education

6. Proper hygiene

CNAs are around sick people often, so proper hygiene is a necessity to ensure the health of patients and prevent diseases from spreading.

Listing your knowledge of and commitment to appropriate hygiene on your resume is vital and shows employers that you take the fundamental necessities of your profession seriously.

Here are other proper hygiene-related skills to highlight in your resume:

Cleaning and bathing immobile patients
Dressing and changing patients
Patient care
Hand hygiene
Personal protective equipment
Sterilization and disinfection

7. Positioning, transferring, and moving patients

Patient handling and patient transfer are two other common nursing safety concerns. Patients may be unwell and unable to handle themselves when admitted, so you have to ensure they’re moved to the correct unit without complications.

Highlight your ability to position, transfer, and move patients by mentioning instances where you took on such responsibilities in past CNA roles.

Other skills related to positioning, transferring, and moving patients are:

Patient monitoring
Patient movement
Surgery preparation

8. Recording vital signs and measurements

As a CNA, you need to offer basic care to patients like checking patients’ vital signs, taking their pulse and blood pressure readings, and performing other observational duties.

You also need to use medical recording software and diagnostic testing like ECGs and blood tests. Since CNAs are in charge of keeping track of a patient’s progress and changes in health, you must be able to enter and retrieve patient information from the hospital’s medical record software.

This list highlights skills related to recording vital signs and measurements:

Electronic health records
Diagnostics
Lab testing
Maintaining patient charts
Monitoring vital signs
Patient evaluation
Record keeping
Urine testing

9. Administering drugs

Being a nursing assistant, you should know how to give prescriptions and injections to patients. Because doctors spend little time with patients, you must ensure they take their drugs or are given the right drip at the right time and dosage.

Listed below are skills related to administering drugs to include in your CNA resume to prove you have the right CNA qualifications:

Antibiotic therapy
Assisting in surgery
Dialysis
IV therapy
Vaccination

10. Proficiency in medical emergency equipment

As a CNA, you must be able to use a wide range of medical emergency equipment in the health facility, ranging from ventilators to jump-bags, trauma or spinal boards, ECG monitors, and incubators.

Show employers you have the technical skills to operate and handle this equipment by highlighting instances where you handled such equipment in your previously held roles.

These skills are also related to medical emergency treatment:

Blood glucose testing
Care of gastrostomy tube
Diagnostics
First aid
Lab testing
Suctioning of the tracheostomy tube

Soft skills for CNA resumes

Soft skills are natural characteristics related to how the CNA interacts with patients and their families, colleagues, and administrators.

Below are some of the common CNA skills that employers look for in a resume:

11. Attention to detail

Working in a hospital is a high-risk job, as a tiny slip can cause harm to a person’s health or make several people ill. So having an acute attention to detail is an essential CNA skill.

Mention instances where you displayed attention to detail in your previous jobs to prove your point.

Here are other related skills if you’re a detail-oriented CNA:

Ability to prioritize
Accuracy
Critical thinking
Observational skills
Organizational skills
Monitoring skills

12. Communication skills

As a CNA, you’ll need to explain medical concepts both verbally and in writing, to not just medical professionals but patients and their families as well.

For instance, you’ll be responsible for explaining doctor directives to patients, educating patient families, recording patient charts, and reporting patient health changes.

These discussions may be complicated as most patients know little about medicine. So recruiters look for CNAs that have excellent communication skills.

Other communication-related skills to highlight in your CNA resume are:

Active listening
Instructing skills
Leadership skills
Patient education
Verbal and written communication

13. Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills relate to how a CNA connects with other people.

Having good interpersonal skills allows you to connect with patients and make them feel at ease — which has proven to help during treatment.

The following list includes interpersonal-related skills:

Assertiveness
Collaboration skills
Customer service skills
Persuasiveness

14. Multitasking

CNAs have to take care of numerous patients and do several things simultaneously. They have to administer treatments to patients, move patients to and from the emergency ward, and provide feedback to doctors and other specialists.

Adapting to a continuously changing environment requires a high level of flexibility. So it’s crucial to ensure your CNA resume highlights multitasking as one of your skills.

Here are other skills closely related to multitasking:

Adaptability
Coping with pressure
Strong work ethic
Time management skills

15. Empathy

As an assisting nurse, you must demonstrate the ability to empathize with patients and show compassion when they’re uncomfortable.

You can highlight your knack for empathy in your resume by mentioning specific experiences where you displayed this trait in the workplace or were praised for being empathetic.

Other empathy-related CNA skills include:

Confidentiality
Endurance
Kindness
Patience
Optimism

Where to list CNA skills on your resume

Now that you know the desired nurse assistant skills to include in your resume, here’s how to write a resume showcasing these skills:

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1. Resume objective

A CNA resume objective is an eye-catching 2–4 sentence summary of your skills, professional experience, and achievements assisting patients and doctors.

A resume objective is often the first thing an employer sees on your resume and is an excellent opportunity to showcase your CNA skills.

An effective CNA resume objective includes your:

years of experience
summary of your top nursing assistant skills
reason for applying as a CNA

Here are two examples of resume objectives that carefully highlight essential CNA skills:

Pros

Adaptable and compassionate certified assistant nurse with 1.5 years of experience looking to apply my skills in drawing blood, checking vital signs, and providing high-quality nursing assistance to patients in a fast-paced emergency setting. State Nurse Aid certified from the Kentucky Health Care Institute. Looking to leverage my skills and knowledge as a CNA for Lyerson Hospital’s Emergency ward.

Pros

Dedicated CNA with 7+ years of experience from working in hospitals and nursing homes. Graduated from Pratt Community College. Seeking an opportunity to provide patient care, and apply skills in patient hygiene and pain management as a responsible CNA for St. Louis Hospital.

If you’re an experienced CNA with many professional or academic achievements, try writing a resume summary. A resume summary focuses more on your accomplishments rather than your reasons for applying to a position.

2. Skills section

The skills section of your resume shows employers that you have the right skills for the role you’re applying for — those that suggest you know how to care for patients and assist doctors in a professional manner. Including the right mix of 3–9 CNA resume skills can help you out and increase your chances of receiving an interview.

Here are some relevant CNA skills for your resume:

Example of the skills section of a CNA resume

Hospice care
ICU
Infection control
Documentation
Communication
Chemotherapy administration
Cardiac care
Bedside monitoring
Blood administration
Assisting in surgery

3. Work experience section

Introduce your CNA skills to your work experience section when listing duties and responsibilities by showing how you applied those skills to help patients.

Be specific when explaining your CNA skills. Start your bullet points with powerful action verbs like “Oversaw” or “Assisted” when highlighting your skills to give the employer a visual picture of how you fit into the role.

Another reason to include action verbs is to beat the applicant tracking systems (ATS), which most recruiters use to scan applicants’ resumes for specific industry and job-related keywords.

Finally, use hard numbers to quantify those experiences. Details like the number of patients you helped, number of treatments you administered, or time worked are all ways to provide context to employers and showcase your CNA achievements.

Here are a few examples of how to successfully highlight your appropriate CNA skills in your work experience section:

Example of work experience bullet points from a CNA resume

Oversaw 500+ patients’ conditions and informed the doctor of any changes or emergencies
Assisted 130+ bedridden patients per month with basic comfort tasks like eating and bathing and helped nurse them back to health