Operating Room Nurse Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Operating Room Nurse resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Operating room nurses are the unsung heroes of the healthcare industry. They’re the ones who make sure your doctor has everything she needs to perform surgery on you or your loved one. Operating room nurses are the ones who prep patients for surgery, set up equipment, monitor vital signs, and assist with procedures.
Because operating room nurses work directly with surgeons and other medical professionals, they need to be detail oriented and highly organized. They also need to have excellent communication skills and be able to work as part of a team—while also working independently when necessary.
If you’re looking for a job in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment where every day is different from the last, you might want to consider becoming an operating room nurse. Here are some tips and an example resume to help you write your own.
How to Write an Operating Room Nurse Resume
Here’s how to write an operating room nurse resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most effective way to showcase your experience and qualifications. But rather than simply listing your responsibilities, you can make your bullet points much more interesting and compelling by using specific numbers and metrics.
For example, rather than saying you “assisted surgeons during surgeries,” you could say that you “assisted surgeons during 10 surgeries per day on average, resulting in a 20% decrease in operating room turnover rate.”
The second bullet point is much more interesting and provides a clear sense of the scope of your work and its impact.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for an operating room nurse role, your resume is likely to go through an applicant tracking system (ATS). This software will scan your resume for certain keywords related to the job. If your resume doesn’t have enough of the right terms, the ATS might discard your application.
The best way to make sure your resume makes it past the ATS is to include relevant keywords throughout all sections of your resume. You can start by reading through job postings and highlighting the terms that seem most important. Then, go through your resume and add those same terms into each section where they are relevant.
Here are some of the most common operating room nurse keywords:
- Operating Room
- Nursing
- Basic Life Support (BLS)
- Healthcare
- Patient Safety
- Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
- Patient Education
- Emergency Nursing
- Hospitals
- Surgery
- Inpatient Care
- Healthcare Management
- Acute Care
- Nursing Education
- Orthopedic Surgery
- Critical Care Nursing
- Trauma Nursing
- IV Therapy
- Medicine
- Nurse Residency
- Endoscopy
- Healthcare Information Technology (HIT)
- Operating Room Scheduling
- Medications
- Surgical Care
- Cardiac Surgery
- Trauma Surgery
- Pediatric Trauma
- Surgery Nursing
- Perioperative Care
Showcase Your Technical Skills
Most hospitals now require their nurses to be proficient in electronic health records (EHR) systems. So if you have experience with any specific EHR systems, be sure to list them on your resume. You should also list any other technical skills that are relevant to your field, such as experience with patient monitoring systems or medical devices.
Hiring managers are also looking for nurses who are comfortable with technology and are willing to embrace new ways of working. For example, many hospitals are now using telehealth systems to provide care to patients in remote locations, so nurses who are familiar with telehealth technologies will have an advantage in the job market.