The medical field is a sophisticated industry that houses top-notch medical professionals. Everyone in the field teams up to provide comprehensive medical care like illness diagnosis and treatment measures. Undoubtedly, having a career in the industry is rewarding.
If you wish to stand alongside skilled and brilliant professionals, you must prove your capabilities to the meticulous hiring panel. The best way to do this is by displaying your roster of skills and qualities in your medical resume.
We listed the top 10 must-have skills of a medical professional. These skills are a mix of teachable, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills that hospitals look for in an employee. They can also help you create a solid medical resume that leaves a great impression and eventually makes you the best candidate.
10 Skills Your Medical Resume Must Have
1. Communication skills
Communication is a fundamental skill in any field. In the medical field, in particular, health care professionals need to speak with patients or their families regarding their medical history before coming up with a diagnosis or treatment plan. Health care workers also need to routinely communicate with co-workers to pass along crucial medical information, like patient status updates.
Check out this example to get an idea of how to state it in your resume:
- Excellently communicated test results with physicians, pathologists, and nursing staff focused on providing exemplary healthcare quality.
2. Team player
Taking care of patients is not performed by a single professional alone. For example, in emergency cases, the emergency medical technician plays a big part in making sure the patient gets to the hospital quickly. Then came the resident physicians, nurses, and other medical staff to prepare the patient for treatment. After the prep, they need to rush the patient to the operating room, where surgeons and their assisting staff are waiting.
This whole process shows that teamwork is essential in providing patient care. They need to tap one another to come up with the best treatment plan. Hence, everyone must participate and collaborate.
If you’re a team player, now is the perfect time to emphasize that. Say it like this:
- Briefed and assisted nurses, residents, and attending physicians in administering state-of-the-art medication plans catering to an average of 75 patients daily.
3. Administrative skills
Whether you are a resident or a nurse, you do administrative work. Admin tasks are any duties that do not involve patient care activities. These include spending hours on the phone with insurance companies, faxing medical records, or greeting patients.
If you have a past job relevant to admin tasks, this is the best place to display that experience. Here’s a sample administrative skill for you to take note of:
- Effectively processed outside medical records of the Tart Vessel-sinking survivors and faxed them to different medical professionals involved.
4. Attention to detail
Regardless of their specialization, healthcare and medical experts are detail-oriented. They are meticulous in every part of the process of patient care. They have to ensure that everything is for the best of the patient. They understand that once a single detail is missing, this can harm the patient's health or the whole medical plan.
Below is a sample statement to write in your medical resume to convey this skill:
- Developed an organized system to record patients' medical history, health progress, discharge reports, and home-program treatment plans. Documented each paperwork accurately and on time.
5. Problem-solving skills
Hospitals are afloat with medical marvels that need exceptional problem-solving skills to solve. When these cases happen, all hands should be on deck to come up with the best solution. More importantly, everyone must solve this problem quickly.
If you like working in a fast-paced environment and a high-pressure field, it is best to include this in your resume. Here’s the best way to write it:
- Performed a series of experiments to come up with a fresh and innovative treatment plan for patients with profound injury
6. Adaptability and flexibility
Jobs in the medical field are in demand. Doctors’ and nurses’ schedules are rarely fixed as they may need to extend their duty to take care of critical demands. With this, they can’t stick to the typical 9-to-5 hours shift. They have to constantly change their routine and adapt to a new one every now and then.
Listing qualities like adaptability and flexibility will increase your odds of nailing the job. Below is a sample context to further your chances:
- Highly flexible to any work hours given. Adaptable to any given scenario, with less briefing time and minimal supervision.
7. Stress management
Emergencies almost always happen in a hospital. Healthcare professionals treat ill patients every day. At times, they need to exert more energy when a person’s life is at stake. And, when adrenaline kicks in, it’s often accompanied by fear. A great medical professional should know how to keep calm when stressful scenarios happen.
Convince the recruiters that you’re the right fit for the position by demonstrating your routine when anxiety kicks in. See our sample statement below:
- Reacted effectively and presented sound decisions in emergency scenarios that helped save patient lives.
8. Knowledge of basic medical procedures
You work in a medical facility. So, whether you’re a hospital clerk or medical technician, you’re still expected to learn basic medical activities. Listing your knowledge even on giving first aid treatments will be an advantage to you.
When recruiters read this skill in your resume, they will know that you understand what you’re doing. Below is a sample content:
- Performed CPR and gave first aid treatments to the Oro Gap building patients.
9. Computer skills
Medical professionals work with a massive load of patient information, and thus must maintain an organized file system. As such, it is necessary to develop computer skills, especially for those who deal with digitized charts. Learning computer skills will also help everyone be kept in the loop on a patient’s health progress.
Your computer-related background will be beneficial when you work in the medical field. To help you write this section, here’s a sample sentence for you:
- Leveraged computer skills to develop systematic record-keeping and patient care plans.
10. Empathy
When working in the medical field, you will meet a lot of patients that are in pain, mentally or physically. It's essential to show them that you understand their struggles. By doing this, you are also forming connections with them, which is vital to building trust.
If you’re unsure how to write it, here’s a sample one for you:
- Earned commendations from patients and co-workers for helping patients adapt and live within their physical abilities.
Final Note
Make use of this helpful guide today so you can showcase the right skills and impress your future employer. Also, never declare any skill you don’t have — you’re entering a field that deals with saving lives, not putting them at risk. Good luck!
