Operating Room Nurse Resume

Operating room (OR) nurses belong to one of the most in-demand nurse specialties. Also known as perioperative nurses or surgical nurses, OR nurses help patients and doctors at different stages of the surgery process.

Several types of perioperative nurses exist, including:

• scrub nurses
• circulating nurses
• RN first assistants (RNFA)
• post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) nurses
• medical-surgical nurses
• operating room directors

Need a quick refresher on what to put on your nursing resume? This quick video breaks down all the sections you should add to your resume and how to write them well so you can stand out to healthcare employers:

No matter your OR nurse specialty, follow our five tips to write an outstanding operating room nurse resume:

1. Make a good first impression with proper formatting

In the health care profession, traditional resume formats and resume templates are more likely to pass reviews by applicant tracking systems (ATS), which automatically toss out resumes with layouts, images, or fonts they can’t interpret.

So avoid using overly bright graphics or colors on your nursing resume. To demonstrate professionalism to hiring managers, blacks and blues, along with dark greens and burgundies, are the best colors for your resume.

2. Customize your resume to the operating room nurse specialty

If you’re applying to multiple types of surgical nursing roles, customize your resume for each type.

For example, notice how a scrub nurse and PACU nurse differ in these snippets from their work experience section, skills section, and certifications section:

Scrub nurse

Work experience: Efficiently and thoroughly sterilize operating room and tools following strict surgical aseptic technique, respond quickly to surgeon and OR nurse needs and questions, perform risk assessment, and devise and implement life-saving measures during complications

Skills: Surgical instrument and sponge counts, adaptability, teamwork skills

Certification: Certified Perioperative Nurse (CNOR)

PACU nurse

Work experience: Comfort post-op patients and family members, calmly and directly discuss post-op procedures, answer questions with empathy and patience, and closely monitor vital signs and side effects including pain and nausea

Skills: Active listening, interpersonal skills, vital signs, documentation

Certification: Certified Post-Anesthesia Nurse (CPAN)

If the job posting doesn’t specify the perioperative specialty, check the duties description and preferred qualifications section. Then show how you can fit the job’s needs.

For example, you should write a scrub and circulating nurse resume in response to general perioperative nurse postings that include “Ability to scrub and circulate” in the preferred qualifications section.

3. Emphasize your OR nurse work experience and certifications

As shown by job ads that specifically bar nurse graduates from applying, perioperative nursing is a relatively high level of nursing. As a result, your experience and credentials count more than your education, so place them higher and give them more space on your resume.

But if you have less than the preferred amount of work experience, you can add more details in your resume’s education section, including your:

• GPA
• relevant coursework
• rotations, internship placements, and other learn-by-doing experiences
• academic accomplishments

You may also choose to include additional sections at the bottom of your resume for information such as:

• language skills
• accomplishments and awards
• volunteer work

But remember that the standard resume length is one page. To write a one-page resume while highlighting your work experience first and foremost, you can abbreviate information from these extra sections and add it to your operating room nurse resume’s skills section.

4. Correctly list your OR nursing credentials and licenses

There are two places you can list your accreditations on your OR nurse resume — in your certifications section or in your skills section.

Certification section

In your certification section, include the:

• name and abbreviation of the certification
• granting body or state
• issue date
• expiration date
• credential ID number

For example, note how an applicant lists one of their OR nurse certifications:

Skills section

If you put your credentials in the skills section of your resume, just list the name of the certification, the certifying body, and your license number. Including the number lets hiring managers easily look up your qualifications in state and national nursing databases.

5. Include soft skills throughout your OR nurse resume

Possessing excellent soft skills, or skills related to how you work with people, distinguishes good nurses from great nurses. And giving examples of your soft skills on your resume differentiates your application from those of other candidates.

Important soft skills to describe on your operating room nurse resume are:

While your technical skills can be communicated through certifications, soft skills are best shown in your work experience section with resume adjectives and action verbs that make your resume more engaging.

For example, here’s a work experience entry from an operating room nurse’s resume. We’ve emphasized the resume adjectives (underlined in yellow) and action verbs (underlined in green) that demonstrate soft skills specifically: