These are the ATS keywords, credentials, and software terms that recur across current registered nurse job descriptions — organized so you can scan for what your resume is missing. Placement matters as much as presence: an ATS keyword buried in a skills list ranks lower than the same term used in context inside an experience bullet.

Title and registration variants

  • Registered Nurse
  • RN
  • Staff Nurse
  • Senior Staff Nurse
  • Sister
  • Charge Nurse
  • Ward Manager
  • Clinical Nurse Specialist
  • CNS
  • NMC
  • NMC PIN
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
  • RN Adult
  • RN Mental Health
  • RSCN
  • revalidation

Band levels

  • Band 5
  • Band 6
  • Band 7
  • Band 8a
  • Agenda for Change
  • AfC
  • NHS

Clinical assessment

  • NEWS2
  • SBAR
  • AVPU
  • ACVPU
  • GCS
  • APACHE II
  • SOFA
  • ABPI
  • Doppler
  • C-SSRS
  • HCR-20
  • DASA
  • AUDIT-C
  • MEWS
  • PEWS
  • PainDETECT
  • VTE
  • thromboprophylaxis
  • Waterlow
  • MUST (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool)

Specialisms and settings

  • acute
  • medical
  • surgical
  • orthopaedic
  • oncology
  • ICU
  • ITU
  • HDU
  • CCU
  • A&E
  • ED
  • theatre
  • scrub
  • recovery
  • community
  • district nursing
  • CMHT
  • PICU
  • CAMHS
  • forensic
  • palliative care
  • end of life
  • care of elderly
  • elderly care
  • dementia
  • stroke

Clinical skills

  • cannulation
  • venepuncture
  • IV drug administration
  • medication administration
  • nurse prescribing
  • IV infusion
  • NG tube
  • PEG tube
  • catheterisation
  • wound care
  • tissue viability
  • dressing
  • compression bandaging
  • tracheostomy care
  • ventilator
  • CPAP
  • BiPAP
  • oxygen therapy
  • ABG interpretation
  • blood transfusion
  • central line
  • PICC line
  • arterial line
  • CVP

Legislation and safeguarding

  • Mental Health Act
  • MHA
  • Section 5(4)
  • Section 2
  • CPA
  • AMHP
  • PMVA
  • Mental Capacity Act
  • MCA
  • DoLS
  • DOLS
  • safeguarding
  • Care Act 2014
  • DNACPR
  • ReSPECT
  • GSF
  • palliative
  • end of life

Documentation systems

  • SystmOne
  • EMIS
  • Cerner
  • EPIC
  • Lorenzo
  • RiO
  • SystemOne
  • Datix
  • incident reporting

Long-tail phrases

  • registered nurse resume
  • registered nurse cv
  • how to write a registered nurse cv
  • NHS nurse resume
  • Band 5 nurse cv
  • Band 6 nurse resume
  • ICU nurse cv
  • mental health nurse resume
  • community nurse cv
  • staff nurse resume 2026
  • NMC registered nurse resume

Pasting these terms into your resume verbatim without matching context can read as keyword stuffing to a human reviewer, even if it passes the ATS. The full Registered Nurse resume guide shows where each category belongs and how to work it into real experience bullets.