Top 12 Medical Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume

In the fast-paced and ever-evolving field of healthcare, medical technicians play a crucial role in delivering quality patient care. To stand out in a competitive job market, highlight specific skills on your resume that show precision, calm under pressure, and a knack for technology and teamwork.

Medical Technician Skills

1. Phlebotomy
2. EKG/ECG
3. CPR Certified
4. HIPAA Compliance
5. EMR Systems
6. Laboratory Information System (LIS)
7. Medical Terminology
8. Specimen Collection
9. Patient Monitoring
10. Radiography
11. Vital Signs
12. Sterilization Techniques

1. Phlebotomy

Phlebotomy is the practice of drawing blood from patients for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. It’s routine work with real stakes.

Why It's Important

Blood samples drive diagnosis, track treatment, and inform urgent decisions. Clean sticks, correct tubes, zero mix-ups—this is the backbone of reliable lab results.

How to Improve Phlebotomy Skills

1. Deepen your knowledge: Review current techniques, order of draw, and complication management through reputable professional organizations and in-house training.
2. Sharpen technique: Practice venipuncture on simulation arms and under supervision to refine site selection, angle, and stabilization.
3. Communicate clearly: Explain the process, set expectations, and use calming strategies to reduce anxiety and movement.
4. Prioritize safety: Follow standard precautions, needle-stick prevention, and post-exposure steps without compromise.
5. Label without delay: Label at bedside before leaving the patient. Two identifiers, always.
6. Seek feedback: Ask experienced staff to observe and critique your workflow; small adjustments pay off.

Dial in consistency and empathy. Your samples will tell truer stories.

How to Display Phlebotomy Skills on Your Resume

2. EKG/ECG

An EKG (ECG) records the heart’s electrical activity via electrodes on the skin. Subtle lines, huge implications.

Why It's Important

Accurate tracings help detect arrhythmias, ischemia, conduction blocks, and more—enabling swift, appropriate care.

How to Improve EKG/ECG Skills

1. Prep the skin: Clean oils, dry thoroughly, and trim hair if needed to lower impedance.
2. Nail electrode placement: Use standard landmarks every time; mark if necessary for consistency.
3. Check your gear: Inspect leads, clips, and cables; replace worn parts to prevent artifacts.
4. Tame the noise: Position the patient comfortably, minimize movement and shivering, and keep cords untangled and away from interference.
5. Verify leads before recording: Confirm connections and lead labels; misplacement can mimic pathology.
6. Practice interpretation basics: Rate, rhythm, axis, intervals—build a quick, disciplined review pattern and escalate concerning findings promptly.

A clean tracing saves time. Sometimes lives.

How to Display EKG/ECG Skills on Your Resume

3. CPR Certified

Being CPR certified means you’ve been trained and assessed to perform high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation in emergencies.

Why It's Important

When seconds stretch and oxygen dwindles, skilled CPR bridges the gap to advanced care. It’s the definition of time-critical.

How to Improve CPR Certified Skills

1. Refresh frequently: Review the latest guidelines and updates; protocols evolve.
2. Drill with manikins: Practice compressions and ventilations using feedback devices for rate and depth.
3. Stack credentials: Add BLS, then ACLS or PALS as your scope requires.
4. Team choreography: Run mock codes to refine role clarity, rotations, and communication.
5. Stay fit: Stamina and upper-body strength matter more than you think.
6. Mental rehearsal: Visualize high-stress scenarios to reduce hesitation when it counts.

Confidence comes from reps, not luck.

How to Display CPR Certified Skills on Your Resume

4. HIPAA Compliance

HIPAA compliance means protecting patient health information—how it’s accessed, shared, stored, and disposed—without fail.

Why It's Important

Trust hinges on privacy. So does legal exposure. Proper handling shields patients and your organization.

How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills

1. Know the rules: Review privacy and security requirements relevant to your role; keep current with policy updates.
2. Limit access: Use only the minimum necessary information and lock screens when stepping away.
3. Communicate securely: Use approved channels for messages, images, and data. No shortcuts.
4. Protect records: Store physical files safely; encrypt and password-protect digital data.
5. Report fast: Escalate any suspected breach or misdirected information immediately.
6. Train regularly: Attend refreshers and scenario-based drills; audit yourself against checklists.

Privacy is a habit. Build it into every click and conversation.

How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume

5. EMR Systems

Electronic Medical Records (often called EMR or EHR) are digital systems for documenting histories, orders, results, and care plans—your daily command center.

Why It's Important

Faster charting, fewer errors, clearer handoffs. Good EMR habits make the whole team sharper and the patient safer.

How to Improve EMR Systems Skills

1. Get role-specific training: Learn the workflows you use most—order entry, results review, documentation templates.
2. Master shortcuts: Smart phrases, macros, and favorites shave minutes off every task.
3. Document with intent: Use clear, concise, clinically relevant notes; avoid copy-paste clutter.
4. Understand data hygiene: Enter accurate identifiers, code correctly, and reconcile meds carefully.
5. Learn interoperability basics: Know how external results, referrals, and imaging reports flow into your system.
6. Audit yourself: Review error logs or rejected orders to spot patterns and fix root causes.

Speed is nice. Accuracy is nonnegotiable.

How to Display EMR Systems Skills on Your Resume

6. Laboratory Information System (LIS)

An LIS manages lab workflows—from orders and specimen tracking to results and quality controls—keeping the engine humming.

Why It's Important

It reduces errors, speeds turnaround, and supports regulatory compliance. Cleaner data, cleaner decisions.

How to Improve Laboratory Information System (LIS) Skills

1. Train deeply: Learn test-build details, reflex rules, flags, and result verification steps.
2. Customize views: Configure dashboards, queues, and alerts to match your daily priorities.
3. Tighten quality: Use delta checks, QC trends, and audit trails; escalate anomalies quickly.
4. Integrate smartly: Understand how LIS exchanges data with the EMR, instruments, and billing—spot interface issues early.
5. Protect data: Follow access controls, backup procedures, and downtime workflows.
6. Document SOPs: Keep step-by-step guides updated; reduce variation across shifts.

The right setup turns chaos into cadence.

How to Display Laboratory Information System (LIS) Skills on Your Resume

7. Medical Terminology

The shared language of anatomy, conditions, procedures, and pharmacology. Precise words prevent messy misunderstandings.

Why It's Important

It enables clear orders, accurate documentation, and safer handoffs—especially under time pressure.

How to Improve Medical Terminology Skills

1. Study a bit daily: Prefixes, suffixes, roots—build from the parts upward.
2. Use spaced repetition: Flashcards and micro-quizzes lock terms into long-term memory.
3. Apply in context: Write sample notes and label diagrams; teach a peer to cement recall.
4. Read broadly: Skim clinical summaries, lab reports, and imaging impressions to see real-world usage.
5. Create a quick-reference: Keep a personal glossary for tricky or specialty-specific terms.
6. Test yourself: Short weekly self-assessments reveal gaps you can quickly close.

Fluency grows from repetition and real use.

How to Display Medical Terminology Skills on Your Resume

8. Specimen Collection

Collecting blood, urine, swabs, tissue, and more—each with its own container, timing, and handling rules.

Why It's Important

Right specimen, right patient, right time. That trifecta determines whether results are actionable or misleading.

How to Improve Specimen Collection Skills

1. Confirm identity: Use two identifiers and match requisitions at bedside.
2. Choose correctly: Select the proper container, preservative, and volume for each test.
3. Follow technique: Use aseptic methods, avoid contamination, and respect order-of-draw guidelines.
4. Label immediately: Label in the patient’s presence; document collection time, site, and special conditions (e.g., fasting).
5. Control the clock: Transport and store at required temperatures and within stability windows.
6. Close the loop: Track specimens in the system and reconcile any discrepancies before they snowball.

Specimen integrity is not negotiable. Treat it that way.

How to Display Specimen Collection Skills on Your Resume

9. Patient Monitoring

Ongoing assessment of vital signs, symptoms, and device outputs to spot changes before they become crises.

Why It's Important

Early detection leads to early intervention. Subtle shifts today avert codes tomorrow.

How to Improve Patient Monitoring Skills

1. Standardize baselines: Establish a clear baseline and trend from there; context matters more than a single number.
2. Optimize devices: Calibrate monitors, set sensible alarm parameters, and reduce nuisance alarms that cause fatigue.
3. Reduce artifacts: Secure sensors properly, warm cold extremities, and recheck suspicious values manually.
4. Close the communication loop: Escalate concerning trends quickly and document who was notified and when.
5. Use remote tools when available: Remote and wearable monitors can extend surveillance between visits—monitor the data, not just the device.
6. Individualize plans: Tailor frequency and focus based on diagnosis, risk, and patient tolerance.

Good monitoring is quiet vigilance—until it isn’t.

How to Display Patient Monitoring Skills on Your Resume

10. Radiography

Using X-rays to generate internal images for diagnosis and treatment guidance. Clear images, minimal dose.

Why It's Important

High-quality imaging supports accurate diagnoses and safer interventions, while strong safety practices protect patients and staff.

How to Improve Radiography Skills

1. Invest in continuing education: Stay current on positioning, exposure parameters, and dose optimization.
2. Communicate well: Explain the process, cue breath holds, and anticipate discomfort to reduce repeats.
3. Know your tech: Learn your system’s software, post-processing tools, and QA features.
4. Chase quality: Participate in routine QC checks, monitor repeat/reject rates, and analyze causes.
5. Prioritize radiation safety: Use shielding, ALARA principles, and appropriate collimation every time.

Precision beats speed. Consistently.

How to Display Radiography Skills on Your Resume

11. Vital Signs

Temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation. Small numbers, big signals.

Why It's Important

They provide the first snapshot of patient status and the earliest clues when things drift off course.

How to Improve Vital Signs Skills

1. Use proper technique: Right cuff size and arm position for BP, full minute for irregular pulses, stable probe placement for SpO2.
2. Confirm outliers: Recheck abnormal readings manually or with an alternate device before escalating.
3. Control variables: Allow rest before measurement, note recent activity, meals, pain, or antipyretics.
4. Calibrate and maintain: Keep devices serviced and batteries fresh; replace worn cuffs and sensors.
5. Trend, don’t guess: Compare to baseline and prior values; document time and context.
6. Escalate promptly: Report concerning patterns with clear numbers and timestamps.

Accuracy first. Then speed. Always both when possible.

How to Display Vital Signs Skills on Your Resume

12. Sterilization Techniques

Methods that eliminate all microbial life on instruments and surfaces—steam under pressure, dry heat, gas, low-temperature plasma, and high-level chemical sterilants.

Why It's Important

Sterility breaks transmission chains and prevents device-related infections. It protects every patient who enters the room.

How to Improve Sterilization Techniques Skills

1. Follow validated cycles: Choose the correct method for the material, packaging, and load configuration.
2. Decontam first: Clean and dry instruments thoroughly before sterilization; residue defeats the process.
3. Use indicators: Run biological and chemical indicators per schedule; document and act on failures immediately.
4. Maintain equipment: Schedule routine servicing, verify parameters, and keep logs.
5. Store correctly: Respect shelf life, packaging integrity, and handling rules to keep items sterile until use.
6. Train and audit: Refresh competencies regularly and perform spot checks to prevent drift from protocol.

Sterilization is a chain. Every link must hold.

How to Display Sterilization Techniques Skills on Your Resume