Top 12 Health Aide Skills to Put on Your Resume
To stand out in the crowded world of Health Aides, show a complete, confident skill set on your resume. Put your strengths front and center. Make it obvious you can deliver safe, compassionate, reliable care—because teams depend on it, and patients feel it.
Health Aide Skills
- CPR Certified
- First Aid
- Patient Care
- Vital Signs
- HIPAA Compliance
- Electronic Health Records (EHR)
- Medication Administration
- Alzheimer's Care
- Wound Care
- Mobility Assistance
- Nutrition Planning
- Infection Control
1. CPR Certified
CPR Certified means a Health Aide has completed training and passed assessments in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, the emergency technique used when breathing or heartbeat stops.
Why It's Important
CPR certification gives you the tools to act fast during cardiac or breathing emergencies, bridging the critical gap until advanced help arrives. Seconds matter. Skills save lives.
How to Improve CPR Certified Skills
Build your foundation, then keep sharpening it.
Get certified: Choose an accredited course that includes adult, child, and infant CPR plus AED training (for example, through the American Heart Association or the Red Cross).
Go hands-on: Practice on manikins under supervision. Muscle memory beats theory in a crisis.
Refresh regularly: Recertify about every two years, and review updates to guidelines in between.
Level up when needed: Basic Life Support (BLS) is standard for healthcare settings; advanced courses such as ACLS are only if your role and employer require them.
Drill for realism: Run short, timed scenarios—solo and with teammates—to boost speed, confidence, and coordination.
Consistency turns knowledge into instinct.
How to Display CPR Certified Skills on Your Resume
2. First Aid
First Aid is immediate care for illness or injury to preserve life, prevent worsening, and promote recovery before advanced medical treatment is available.
Why It's Important
Early action calms chaos. It reduces pain, limits complications, and sometimes flat-out prevents tragedy.
How to Improve First Aid Skills
Train and retrain: Take instructor-led courses with scenario practice. Techniques evolve; keep pace.
Practice decision-making: Simulate emergencies—bleeding control, burns, choking, seizures—to strengthen judgment under stress.
Carry a checklist mindset: Scene safety, gloves on, assess, act, reassess, document. Repeat until it’s automatic.
Review after real events: Debrief with peers. What worked, what didn’t, what to change next time.
How to Display First Aid Skills on Your Resume
3. Patient Care
Patient care for a Health Aide means supporting daily living, comfort, safety, and basic health needs—while honoring dignity, preferences, and cultural background.
Why It's Important
Good care isn’t just tasks. It’s trust, comfort, small wins each day. Those ripple into better outcomes and happier lives.
How to Improve Patient Care Skills
Communicate like a pro: Listen closely. Speak clearly. Confirm understanding. Document precisely.
Lead with empathy: Be patient, observant, kind—especially when frustration flares or confusion sets in.
Follow the care plan: Know the details, from mobility level to diet texture, and stick to them. Ask when something seems off.
Spot changes early: New swelling, reduced appetite, unusual fatigue—report quickly. Early reporting prevents spirals.
Manage time without rushing: Prioritize safety and head off bottlenecks, so no one feels hurried or invisible.
Use tools smartly: Reminders, checklists, and approved apps can tighten follow-through and consistency.
How to Display Patient Care Skills on Your Resume
4. Vital Signs
Vital signs are core health measures—temperature, pulse, respirations, and blood pressure—used to assess status, track changes, and flag risk.
Why It's Important
Accurate vitals can be the first whisper of trouble. Trends guide care, catch deterioration, and validate improvement.
How to Improve Vital Signs Skills
Master technique: Use the right cuff size, proper positioning, and quiet conditions. Recheck anything that seems off.
Know your tools: Calibrate or report malfunctioning equipment. Understand differences between manual and automatic readings.
Trend, don’t guess: Compare to baseline and prior readings. Document precisely with time and position notes.
Recognize red flags: Sudden drops in blood pressure, rapid irregular pulse, fever with confusion—escalate promptly per protocol.
Prevent cross-contamination: Clean devices between patients. Hand hygiene before and after.
How to Display Vital Signs Skills on Your Resume
5. HIPAA Compliance
HIPAA compliance means protecting patient health information—paper, verbal, and electronic. Use it only when needed. Share it only with the right people. Secure it always.
Why It's Important
Privacy builds trust. It also prevents violations that can harm patients and carry penalties for organizations.
How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills
Know the rules: Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification basics—and your employer’s specific policies.
Minimum necessary: Access and discuss only what you need for your task. No hallway chatter. No social media details, ever.
Secure communication: Use approved devices, passwords, and portals. Lock screens. Don’t write identifiers on visible notes.
Handle paper safely: Store and shred per protocol. Keep charts closed and out of public view.
Report quickly: If something goes wrong—lost device, misdirected information—follow incident steps immediately.
How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume
6. Electronic Health Records (EHR)
EHRs are digital charts with diagnoses, medications, allergies, labs, and more. For Health Aides, they support quick access, accurate documentation, and coordinated care.
Why It's Important
Clear, timely charting reduces errors, speeds communication, and keeps the whole team aligned.
How to Improve Electronic Health Records (EHR) Skills
Learn your system: Shortcuts, templates, smart phrases—use them to document fast without losing detail.
Chart what matters: Objective facts, patient-reported changes, and time-stamped tasks. Avoid vague language.
Check before you click: Verify patient identity and medication lists. Small mistakes can ripple.
Protect privacy: Log out, lock devices, and avoid viewing records you don’t need.
Sync with the plan: Align notes with the care plan, so nursing and therapy teams can act on your observations.
How to Display Electronic Health Records (EHR) Skills on Your Resume
7. Medication Administration
Medication administration is the safe delivery of prescribed meds—right dose, time, route, patient, and documentation—according to provider orders and employer policy. Scope varies by state and setting; some aides remind and assist, others administer under delegation.
Why It's Important
Correct meds at the right moment keep conditions controlled, avoid complications, and protect patients from harm.
How to Improve Medication Administration Skills
Know your scope: Understand what you’re permitted to do in your state and facility, and when to involve a nurse.
Follow the rights: Right patient, right medication, right dose, right route, right time—plus right documentation and right reason.
Double-check high-risk meds: When policy requires, verify with another staff member or a nurse.
Use tools: MARs, reminders, and bar-code systems (if available) reduce errors.
Educate and observe: Explain what you’re giving when appropriate, watch for side effects, and report anything unusual.
If in doubt, stop: Clarify unclear orders or discrepancies before administering.
How to Display Medication Administration Skills on Your Resume
8. Alzheimer's Care
Alzheimer’s care blends safety, structure, and empathy. It adapts to memory loss and changing abilities, aiming to reduce distress and support daily life.
Why It's Important
Routines soothe. Gentle communication prevents agitation. Dignity stays intact, even as needs evolve.
How to Improve Alzheimer's Care Skills
Personalize everything: Use the person’s life story—music, hobbies, family—to guide activities and spark connection.
Simplify communication: Short sentences, one-step instructions, calm tone, eye contact. Offer choices, not open-ended questions.
Design for safety: Clear walkways, locked hazards, labels, good lighting, fall prevention. Consider wander protocols.
Structure the day: Predictable routines for meals, hygiene, and rest. Plan stimulating but manageable tasks.
Prevent and respond to agitation: Identify triggers—pain, noise, hunger, fatigue—and redirect with reassurance or a soothing activity.
Support the family: Share observations and strategies. Watch for caregiver burnout signs and escalate when needed.
How to Display Alzheimer's Care Skills on Your Resume
9. Wound Care
Wound care includes safe cleansing, dressing changes per orders, skin protection, and vigilant monitoring for infection or delayed healing.
Why It's Important
Good technique speeds recovery, reduces pain, and keeps infection at bay.
How to Improve Wound Care Skills
Follow the care plan exactly: Use the ordered solution, dressing type, and frequency. Don’t improvise.
Work clean: Hand hygiene, gloves, and a clean field. Know when sterile technique is required (and when it’s not).
Assess and document: Note size, depth, drainage, odor, surrounding skin, and pain. Trend changes and report concerns quickly.
Manage moisture: Keep wounds moist (not wet) unless otherwise ordered. Protect periwound skin.
Reduce pressure and friction: Reposition as directed, use cushions or offloading devices, and protect heels and bony areas.
Support healing: Encourage adequate protein, hydration, and glucose control when relevant.
How to Display Wound Care Skills on Your Resume
10. Mobility Assistance
Mobility assistance is safe help with movement—transfers, ambulation, positioning, and devices like walkers or wheelchairs—so people can move more and fall less.
Why It's Important
Movement preserves independence. Done poorly, it causes injuries. Done well, it builds confidence.
How to Improve Mobility Assistance Skills
Use proper body mechanics: Stable stance, neutral spine, engage legs—not your back.
Know your techniques: Gait belt use, stand-pivot vs. transfer board, one- vs. two-person assist, and when to request lifting equipment.
Prep the environment: Clear clutter, lock wheelchair brakes, adjust bed height, and check footwear.
Coach and cue: Short instructions and timing cues help patients do as much as they safely can.
Match the device: Fit and check walkers, canes, or wheelchairs. Report sizing problems or changes in ability.
Document and report: Note tolerance, distance, assistance level, and any pain or dizziness.
How to Display Mobility Assistance Skills on Your Resume
11. Nutrition Planning
For Health Aides, nutrition planning often means supporting the plan set by a nurse or dietitian: meal prep, safe food handling, hydration reminders, and monitoring intake and tolerance.
Why It's Important
Food fuels healing. The right texture, timing, and portions prevent risks like choking, weight loss, or blood sugar swings.
How to Improve Nutrition Planning Skills
Follow the plan: Respect diet orders (regular, low-sodium, carb-consistent, renal, texture-modified). Clarify anything unclear.
Build balanced plates: Include lean protein, fruits/vegetables, whole grains (as allowed), and fluids.
Support special needs: Thickened liquids, pureed foods, allergy avoidance, cultural and religious preferences.
Track and report: Note appetite, intake, nausea, bowel patterns, and weight changes.
Plan smart shopping: Create simple, budget-friendly lists that match the care plan and kitchen equipment available.
Hydration is nonnegotiable: Offer fluids routinely unless restricted and watch for dehydration signs.
How to Display Nutrition Planning Skills on Your Resume
12. Infection Control
Infection control is the set of habits and protocols that block germs from spreading—protecting patients, coworkers, and you.
Why It's Important
One lapse can trigger a chain reaction. Strong habits keep care settings safe.
How to Improve Infection Control Skills
Hand hygiene first: Wash or sanitize before and after patient contact, after glove removal, and after touching high-contact surfaces.
Use PPE correctly: Choose gloves, masks, gowns, and eye protection based on the task and follow proper donning and doffing.
Clean and disinfect: Wipe down equipment and frequently touched surfaces with approved products on the right contact time.
Isolation awareness: Follow signage and precautions for contact, droplet, or airborne protocols.
Safe handling: Manage laundry, waste, and sharps containers per policy. Never recap needles.
Stay current: Keep vaccinations and training up to date, and review updates to facility procedures.
Teach as you go: Reinforce cough etiquette, hand hygiene, and home-cleaning practices with patients and families.
How to Display Infection Control Skills on Your Resume
