As an LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse), you might struggle with how to effectively showcase your clinical skills and patient care experience on your resume. Our comprehensive guide is tailored to help you highlight your unique qualifications and navigate this challenge with ease, ensuring your resume stands out to potential employers.
- lpn resumes that are tailored to the role are more likely to catch recruiters' attention.
- Most sought-out lpn skills that should make your resume.
- Styling the layout of your professional resume: take a page from lpn resume examples.
How to write about your lpn achievements in various resume sections (e.g. summary, experience, and education).
Designing your lpn resume format to catch recruiters' eyes
Your lpn resume will be assessed on a couple of criteria, one of which is the actual presentation.
Is your resume legible and organized? Does it follow a smooth flow?
Or have you presented recruiters with a chaotic document that includes everything you've ever done in your career?
Unless specified otherwise, there are four best practices to help maintain your resume format consistency.
- The top one third of your lpn resume should definitely include a header, so that recruiters can easily contact you and scan your professional portfolio (or LinkedIn profile).
- Within the experience section, list your most recent (and relevant) role first, followed up with the rest of your career history in a reverse-chronological resume format .
- Always submit your resume as a PDF file to sustain its layout. There are some rare exceptions where companies may ask you to forward your resume in Word or another format.
- If you are applying for a more senior role and have over a decade of applicable work experience (that will impress recruiters), then your lpn resume can be two pages long. Otherwise, your resume shouldn't be longer than a single page.
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The more trusted the organization you've attained your certificate (or degree) from, the more credible your skill set would be.
Don't forget to include these six sections on your lpn resume:
- Header and summary for your contact details and to highlight your alignment with the lpn job you're applying for
- Experience section to get into specific technologies you're apt at using and personal skills to deliver successful results
- Skills section to further highlight how your profile matches the job requirements
- Education section to provide your academic background
- Achievements to mention any career highlights that may be impressive, or that you might have missed so far in other resume sections
What recruiters want to see on your resume:
- Clinical Skills: Proficiency in administering medications, wound care, and monitoring vital signs.
- Licensure: Current LPN license and any relevant certifications such as IV therapy certification or BLS/CPR.
- Patient Care: Experience with patient education, compassionate care, and maintaining patient comfort.
- Documentation: Accuracy in charting patient information and updating electronic health records (EHR).
- Teamwork: Ability to collaborate effectively with RNs, doctors, and other healthcare staff.
Writing your lpn resume experience
Within the body of your lpn resume is perhaps one of the most important sections - the resume experience one. Here are five quick tips on how to curate your lpn professional experience:
- Include your expertise that aligns to the job requirements;
- Always ensure that you qualify your achievements by including a skill, what you did, and the results your responsibility led to;
- When writing each experience bullet, ensure you're using active language;
- If you can include a personal skill you've grown, thanks to your experience, this would help you stand out;
- Be specific about your professional experience - it's not enough that you can "communicate", but rather what's your communication track record?
Wondering how other professionals in the industry are presenting their job-winning lpn resumes? Check out how these lpn professionals put some of our best practices into action:
- Managed a team of LPNs at a 120-bed long-term care facility, ensuring high-quality patient care and adherence to healthcare regulations.
- Implemented a new electronic health record system that improved patient documentation efficiency by 30%.
- Led a project to reduce hospital readmissions by developing a comprehensive patient education program, achieving a 20% decrease in readmissions over two years.
- Provided critical care for post-operative patients in a fast-paced surgical unit, reducing recovery time by an average of one day.
- Coordinated with a team of healthcare professionals to design a pain management protocol that increased patient comfort scores by 15%.
- Served as a mentor for new LPNs and nursing assistants, improving team performance and patient care delivery.
- Delivered primary nursing care to 50+ patients per week in a busy family practice setting, consistently receiving commendations for compassion and efficiency.
- Implemented a vaccine administration workflow that improved immunization rates by 25% within the first year.
- Initialized a study group for continuous education credits, resulting in 100% team compliance with state licensing requirements.
- Oversaw pediatric patient care, including well-child visits and management of chronic conditions, boosting family satisfaction scores by 20%.
- Streamlined communication between departments to ensure comprehensive care plans for pediatric patients with complex needs.
- Assisted in the implementation of an adolescent health education program that increased patient engagement by 35%.
- Lead LPN in charge of infection control measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, successfully keeping infection rates below 5% amongst patients.
- Collaborated with interdisciplinary teams to provide palliative care, enhancing the quality of life for patients with terminal diagnoses.
- Developed a series of wound care protocols for diabetic patients, which were adopted facility-wide and reduced complications by 18%.
- Managed wound care for patients in a 90-bed subacute rehabilitation center, achieving a 95% healing rate within projected time frames.
- Instituted a fall prevention program that decreased patient falls by 40%, greatly improving patient safety and comfort.
- Liaised between patients, families, and medical team to ensure clear communication and personalized care plans.
- Administered daily care and medications for up to 30 patients in an intensive care unit, maintaining meticulous attention to protocols and patient responses.
- Trained in advanced life support techniques, providing critical interventions during life-threatening emergencies.
- Conducted regular rounds with the medical team, offering insights that shaped patient care strategies and improved outcomes.
- Provided in-home care to patients with diverse medical conditions, enhancing patient autonomy and satisfaction through personalized support.
- Initiated a telehealth support program that allowed for more frequent patient follow-ups and a 22% increase in treatment compliance.
- Worked closely with occupational therapists to streamline at-home care routines, reducing the need for hospital readmissions by 18% in at-risk patients.
Quantifying impact on your resume
- Include the number of patients you care for on average during a shift to demonstrate workload management.
- Document the percentage by which you've helped reduce patient wait times through effective triage or workflow optimization.
- State the specific number of medical procedures you’ve performed to highlight your hands-on experience.
- Mention any increases in patient satisfaction scores as a result of your care to show your commitment to service excellence.
- Detail the amount of medication you administer daily to show precision and responsibility in critical tasks.
- Record the number of successful patient care plans you've developed and executed to showcase planning and coordination skills.
- List any cost-saving initiatives you've contributed to, noted by the percentage of budget reduction, to exhibit fiscal responsibility.
- Quantify the number of training sessions or workshops you've led to emphasize your leadership and education abilities.
Action verbs for your lpn resume
Remember these four tips when writing your lpn resume with no experience
You've done the work - auditing the job requirements for keywords and have a pretty good idea of the skill set the ideal candidate must possess.
Yet, your professional experience amounts to a summer internship .
Even if you have limited or no professional expertise that matches the role you're applying for, you can use the resume experience section to:
- List extracurricular activities that are relevant to the job requirements. Let's say you were editor-in-chief of your college newspaper or part of the engineering society. Both activities have taught you invaluable, transferrable skills (e.g. communication or leadership) that can be crucial for the job;
- Substitute jobs with volunteer experience. Participating in charity projects has probably helped you develop an array of soft skills (e.g. meeting deadlines and interpersonal communications). On the other hand, volunteering shows potential employers more about you: who you are and what are the causes you care about;
- Align job applications with your projects. Even your final-year thesis work could be seen as relevant experience, if it's in the same industry as the job you're applying for. Ensure you've listed the key skills your project has taught you, alongside tangible outcomes or your project success;
- Shift the focus to your transferrable skills. We've said it before, but recruiters will assess your profile upon both job requirements and the skills you possess. Consider what your current experience - both academic and life - has taught you and how you've been able to develop your talents.
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Always remember that your lpn certifications can be quantified across different resume sections, like your experience, summary, or objective. For example, you could include concise details within the expertise bullets of how the specific certificate has improved your on-the-job performance.
LPN resume skills section: writing about your hard skills and soft skills
Recruiters always care about the skill set you'd bring about to the LPN role. That's why it's a good idea to curate yours wisely, integrating both hard (or technical) and soft skills. Hard skills are the technology and software you're apt at using - these show your suitability for the technical aspect of the role. They are easy to track via your experience, certifications, and various resume sections. Your soft skills are those personality traits you've gained over time that show how you'd perform in the specific team, etc. Soft skills are more difficult to qualify but are definitely worth it - as they make you stand out and show your adaptability to new environments. How do you build the skills section of your resume? Best practices point that you could:
- Include up to five or six skills in the section as keywords to align with the advert.
- Create a specific technical skills section to highlight your hard skills aptitude.
- Align the culture of the company you're applying to with your soft skills to determine which ones should be more prominent in your skills section.
- Make sure you answer majority of the job requirements that are in the advert within your skills section.
A LPN's resume requires a specific skill set that balances both industry-specific hard skills with personal, soft skills. Discover the perfect mix for the LPN role from our list:
Top skills for your lpn resume:
Patient Care and Assessment
Administering Injections and Medications
Wound Dressing and Care
Monitoring Vital Signs
Medical Record Keeping
Operating Medical Equipment
Basic Life Support (BLS) and CPR
Knowledge of Nursing Principles and Practices
Infection Control Procedures
IV Therapy
Communication
Compassion
Attention to Detail
Problem-Solving
Time Management
Adaptability
Teamwork
Ethical Judgment
Stress Management
Interpersonal Skills
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Showcase any ongoing or recent educational efforts to stay updated in your field.
Showcase academic background with education and certifications' sections
Listing your education and certifications should be a rudimentary part of your resume writing.
Including your relevant academic background - in the form of your higher education degree and niche-specific certificates - will prove knowledge of the industry.
For your education section:
- Start by including your degree, followed by start and graduation dates, as well as the institution;
- You could include relevant coursework, major/minor , or GPA, only if your've just graduated from college or if this information would further support your application;
- If you have an "ongoing" degree, you can still list it in case you think your diploma can impress recruiters or it's required;
Follow a similar logic for your certifications section by listing the institution, alongside dates you've obtained the certificate. For some of the most recent and relevant industry certificates , check out the next part of our guide:
The top 5 certifications for your lpn resume:
- Basic Life Support (BLS) - American Heart Association
- Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) - American Heart Association
- Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) - American Heart Association
- Gerontological Nursing Certification (GN) - American Nurses Credentialing Center
- IV Therapy Certification - Infusion Nurses Certification Corporation
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If you're in the process of obtaining your certificate or degree, list the expected date you're supposed to graduate or be certified.
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Deciding between a resume summary or objective for your lpn role
Understanding the distinction between a resume summary and an objective is crucial for your lpn resume.
A resume summary, typically three to five sentences long, offers a concise overview of your career. This is the place to showcase your most pertinent experience, key accomplishments, and skills. It's particularly well-suited for those with professional experience relevant to the job requirements.
In contrast, a resume objective focuses on how you can add value to potential employers. It addresses why they should hire you and outlines your career expectations and learning goals. Therefore, it's ideal for candidates with less experience.
In the following section of our guide, explore how resume summaries and objectives differ through some exemplary industry-specific examples.
Resume summaries for a lpn job
- Dedicated LPN with over 5 years of experience delivering high-quality care in fast-paced hospital settings. Proficient in complex patient assessments and the implementation of care plans, while consistently being recognized for exceptional collaboration with healthcare teams to optimize patient outcomes. Awarded 'Nurse of the Year' at Springfield General Hospital.
- Seasoned IT Project Manager pivoting to a career in nursing with steadfast commitment to patient advocacy. Offers extensive skills in team leadership, critical analysis, and systems implementation. Completed an accelerated LPN program with clinical practicum at Mercy Hospital, bringing a fresh perspective to patient-centered care.
- Compassionate and efficient LPN with 8 years of experience in geriatric care, adept at handling the multifaceted demands of senior patient support in long-term care facilities. Instrumental in reducing medication errors by 25% through the development of an improved medication administration protocol at Pleasant Pines Nursing Home.
- Former high school biology teacher with a passion for science and human health, now a licensed LPN after completing rigorous coursework and hands-on training. Brings skills in education, empathy, and communication to offer personalized care and patient education that bridges healthcare with community wellbeing.
- Ambitious individual seeking to contribute enthusiasm for patient care and a robust foundation in medical sciences as an entry-level LPN. Eager to apply comprehensive training from a reputable nursing program and a commitment to continuous learning in a dynamic healthcare setting.
- Aspiring healthcare professional targeting an LPN role to leverage recent graduation from a top-tier nursing school, with an emphasis on community health. Keen to utilize in-depth training in clinical procedures, patient advocacy, and healthcare technology to contribute positively to patient outcomes and team success.
Taking your lpn resume to the next level with these four additional resume sections
Your lpn resume can feature a variety of skills (both hard and soft) in diverse sections. Choose those that align best with the job requirements and reflect your suitability for the company culture.
Consider these four additional resume sections recommended by our experts:
- Languages - State any languages you are proficient in and your level of proficiency. This demonstrates your commitment to communication and potential for international growth.
- Projects - Highlight up to three significant projects you've completed outside of work, showcasing skill development. Include a link to your project portfolio in the lpn resume header, if applicable.
- My Time - How you allocate your time outside work can indicate your organizational skills and cultural fit within the company.
- Volunteering - Detail causes you're passionate about, roles you've held, and achievements in volunteering. Such experiences likely have honed a range of soft skills crucial for your dream job.
Key takeaways
- Impactful lpn resumes have an easy-to-read format that tells your career narrative with highlights;
- Select a resume summary or objective, depending on what sort of impression you'd like to leave and if your accomplishments are relevant to the job;
- If you don't happen to have much industry expertise, curate additional gigs you've had, like contracts and internships, to answer how your experience aligns with the lpn job;
- Be specific about the hard and soft skills you list on your resume to define your niche expertise and outcomes of using those particular skills;
- Always tailor your resume for each lpn application to ensure you meet all job requirements.
