5 ats-friendly examples for RNs & Nurse Practitioners

Anca Stan-Zaharia
5 ats-friendly examples for RNs & Nurse Practitioners

When expertise meets silence

You save lives. You manage critical care under extreme pressure. Your experience is literally a matter of life and death, yet when you apply for a new role at a major hospital system, your stellar credentials are met with radio silence. It's frustrating, and frankly, it feels disrespectful to your dedication.

The issue isn't your clinical skill; it's the digital bureaucracy: the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Hospital HR departments use ATS to filter thousands of resumes based on regulatory compliance, specialized certifications, and quantifiable patient outcomes. As a healthcare specialist, I'm here to tell you how to stop letting a robot reject your life-saving experience.

The ATS hurdle: Certifications and EMR Systems are your keywords

For nursing and Nurse Practitioner (NP) roles, the ATS prioritises two things above all else: specific Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system experience (Epic, Cerner, Meditech) and certifications (BLS, ACLS, PALS, speciality certifications). If these are not listed using their full, official titles, the ATS cannot verify your fitness for the role.

ATS Strategy 1: The Essential Nursing keywords checklist

Your keywords must be specific and technical. Do not just say "used hospital software."

  • EMR/EHR Systems: Epic, Cerner, Meditech, Allscripts, Athenahealth (List specific modules if possible, e.g., "Epic Inpatient")

  • Certifications: BLS, ACLS, PALS, NIHSS, Specialty Certifications (e.g., CCRN, CEN, ONC)

  • Clinical Skills: Triage, Critical Care, Wound Care, Medication Administration, Infection Control, Patient Education, Telemetry, IV Insertion.

  • Compliance: HIPAA, Joint Commission Standards, FMLA, CMS Regulations.

ATS Strategy 2: Metrics and impact (5 Examples that beat the filter)

Nursing impact is measured by efficiency, safety, and patient outcomes. Use these quantifiable examples to demonstrate your value.

The ATS Ignores This (Vague) The ATS Recognizes This (Impactful & Quantified)
1. Medication administration:Assisted in giving medications to patients on the unit. Administered an average of 75+ daily medications with a 100% adherence to the 5 Rights, maintaining zero medication errors across 3 consecutive quarters.
2. Patient education: Taught patients about their conditions and discharge plan. Improved patient health literacy scores by 25% through standardized discharge education, reducing readmission rates for the designated patient population by 8%.
3. Workflow efficiency: Helped improve the flow of the Emergency Department. Streamlined the triage process within the Emergency Department, decreasingaverage patient wait time by 15 minutes (a 12% improvement) during peak hours.
4. Compliance/Safety: Made sure the unit followed all safety rules. Led unit adherence to Joint Commission Standards for infection control, resulting in zero hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) in the unit for 6 months.
5. Specialized skill: Worked with critical care patients. Managed a complex ICU patient load of 1:2 acuity (or specify patient type), maintaining expertise in ACLS and NIHSS protocols during an average of 5 critical incidents monthly.
 

Specialist tip: Don't abbreviate certifications initially

While everyone says "BLS," write Basic Life Support (BLS) the first time it appears on your resume. The ATS might only be looking for the full phrase, and you don't want to rely on the acronym alone. Put your list of full certifications right beneath your contact information for maximum visibility.

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