Medical Surgical Nurse Resume Sample [Job Description Tips]

You’ve sent out hundreds of resumes but hardly ever heard back, despite your qualifications and excellent personal qualities.

But before you despair…

Try this prescription for a medical surgical nurse resume. It’s not a magic cure, but pretty close to it.

This guide will show you: 

• A medical surgical nurse resume example better than 9 out of 10 other resumes.
• How to write a medical surgical nurse resume that will land you more interviews.
• Tips and examples of how to put skills and achievements on a medical surgical nurse resume.
• How to describe your experience on a resume for a medical surgical nurse to get any job you want.

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Targeting other medicine, or healthcare jobs? See one of our dedicated guides:

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• Professional Samples of Resumes for All Jobs

Medical Surgical Nurse Resume Sample

Here’s how to write your med-surg nurse resume that proves you’re indispensable.

1. Choose the Best Format for Your Med Surg Nurse Resume

Med-surg nurses are well-known for both their organizational skills.

To get a chance to prove yours you need to—

Put your resume in order:

• The reverse-chronological one works best most of the time. It puts your experience and achievements in the spotlight.
• Decide on the best resume format for you.
• Make sure your resume header has all your contact information.
• Add large and legible headings to your resume sections.
• Go for a reader-friendly resume font.
• Put white space to good use. Don’t squeeze in too much information.
• Export your resume as PDF. Use MS Word format only if you’re asked to.

2. Write a Medical Surgical Nurse Resume Objective or Summary

Your resume profile, as the objective and summary are collectively referred to, is one of the first things a recruiter will look at on your resume.

It serves as a short version of the entire document.

As such it should concentrate on the highlight on your resume.

If you have more than 2 years of experience, go for a resume summary. It’s a short paragraph presenting your professional experience and key achievements that show the potential you have to a prospective employer.

If you have less than 2 years of experience, a resume objective is more suitable. It’s a short blurb that demonstrates your skills and education to show the employer you’re a perfect fit.

Pro Tip: It’s a good idea to write this section once you come up with a full-length version of your resume. Since it’s a short version, it would be good to have the long version first.

3. Create the Perfect Medical Surgical Nurse Resume Job Description

The work experience section is where the vital fluids of your resume flow. It calls for special care and attention.

Why?

This section shows the recruiter you’ve got exactly what it takes to succeed in the role.

Here’s how to nail your med-surg nurse job description on a resume:

• Start off with your latest workplace and position. Follow it up with the previous ones.
• Make sure each entry includes the job title, company name, location, and dates worked.
• Put your med-surg nurse duties and achievements on a bullet-point list.
• Let every entry comprise up to 6–7 bullets.
• List your relevant experience, and tailor your resume to the job offer.
• Use action verbs (e.g. administered, managed, assessed, etc.) for maximum impact.
• Quantify whatever you can.

Pro Tip: Your safest bet is to use the phrasing from the job offer, in case the employer uses the ATS software. It is especially important in the context of a large skills gap in the healthcare sector.

4. Make Your Med-Surg Registered Nurse Resume Education Section Shine

The education section on your medical-surgical registered nurse resume is essential.

Here’s how to what you need to do:

• Have more than 5 years of professional experience? Simply list your degree, school name, and graduation year. That’s it.
• Less than 5 years of experience? Add information on your GPA (if upwards of 3.5), extracurricular activities, academic achievements, and relevant coursework.
• List your professional licenses and certifications. You can put them in a dedicated section.

5. Highlight Your Med-Surg Nurse Skills

The list of skills below might help you identify your own key abilities.

Med-Surg Nurse Resume—Skills

Technical Skills:

• Burn patients
• Inserting IV’s/IV therapy
• Set-up for cutdown
• Performing complex dressing changes
• Monitoring and assessing I&O
• Using PCA System
• Using SCD or venidyne devices
• Using PICC, Hickman, Central Line
• General medicine/surgery expertise
• IV Certified
• Obtaining peripheral venous blood
• Administering and monitoring IV anticoagulants

Transferable and Soft Skills:

• Time management
• Problem solving
• Decision making
• Critical thinking
• Leadership
• Collaboration and teamwork

It’s important you focus on the skills relevant to the job.

Here’s how you can identify the key med-surg nurse skills:

• Make a master list of all your job skills. Include both your hard skills and soft skills.
• Go back to the job ad to see what skills they require.
• See which skills from your list appear in the job ad. Found them? Great. These are your key skills.
• Make sure your key skill section doesn’t exceed 10 items. And focus on your top skills to avoid presenter’s paradox.
• Now, remember: it’s not enough to put them on your med-surg nurse resume under in a key skills section. Pepper your entire resume with them—place some in your resume profile and job description sections as well.
• Find more in our comprehensinve guide on Nursing Skills: A Checklist For Your Career & Resume

Pro Tip: Read this article to get inspired about what skills a med-surg nurse can put on a resume.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.

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6. Add Other Sections to Your Med-Surg Nurse Resume

Make your resume stand out from the crowd by adding some of the following sections:

• Language skills
• Achievements and awards
• Volunteering
• Hobbies and Interests.

7. Attach a Cover Letter to Your Med-Surg Nurse Resume

You might be tempted to think otherwise, but—

Cover letters are still in the game.

Five out of ten recruiters will expect you to send a cover letter along with your resume.

Follow these hints to make writing cover letter as easy as taking temperature:

• First off, decide what cover letter format works best for you.
• Start your cover letter with a bang.
• Concentrate on what you have to offer.
• Wrap up your cover letter with a call to action.

Pro Tip: Follow up on your job application. A simple email or phone call can help you a lot.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

And that’s all!

That’s how you make a resume for med-surg nurse positions.

Are you writing a medical-surgical nurse resume for the first time? Or perhaps you’re a seasoned pro eager to help the rookies out? We’d love to hear from you, leave your comment below!