Skills
Nurse Practitioner Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in nurse practitioners, and how to build and show them.
What skills do nurse practitioners need?
Nurse Practitioners need technical skills such as advanced assessment, pharmacology, and diagnosis, plus people skills like empathy and communication. They also use tools such as Electronic health records and Exam equipment.
Technical (hard) skills
- Advanced assessment
- Pharmacology
- Diagnosis
- Chronic disease management
- Patient education
- Clinical documentation
People (soft) skills
- Empathy
- Communication
- Critical thinking
- Independence
Tools, equipment and technology
- Electronic health records
- Exam equipment
- E-prescribing
- Telehealth platforms
- Point-of-care tests
- Clinical guidelines
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how nurse practitioners put their skills to work:
- How to manage a patient with hypertension
- How to conduct an annual wellness visit
- How to prescribe safely
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Advanced assessment” and “Pharmacology.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “empathy,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as FNP-BC or FNP-C near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our nurse practitioner glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Nurse Practitioner training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.