What to Include in a Registered Nurse Job Description

Published: 8 January 2024
Updated: 9 July 2024

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Creating a compelling Registered Nurse job description for your facility takes time, especially since these positions require certain characteristic traits as well as education and experience. If you’re looking to hire at your facility, here’s what you should include in the Registered Nurse job description to attract the industry’s best talent.

What is a Registered Nurse?

A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program and is licensed to practice nursing in their state. RNs can be employed in a variety of settings and typically work in patient-facing roles.

RNs can be hourly or salaried, depending on your state and facility. Registered nurses paid hourly should receive overtime pay, but certain exceptions apply. Check your state official requirements for non-exempt and exempt employees to make sure you’re following protocol — and be sure to mention it in your Registered Nurse job description so that applicants know you’re above board.

Not sure where to get started? We’ve got you covered!

Fill out the form below to get a customizable copy of our Registered Nurse job description so you can start hiring qualified nurses faster.

What expectations can you include in your Registered Nurse job description?

To answer this question, you need to determine what the most important characteristics for RNs in your community are. The expectations laid out in your registered nurse job description should reflect your company’s culture and overall commitment to patient care. You can pepper these descriptions throughout your Registered Nurse job description to give applicants a comprehensive picture of your work environment. For example, you could include personality traits like “responsible” or “caring” in your job summary, while adding physical demands like “able to remain on their feet for long periods of time” in the requirements section.

What are some responsibilities of an RN?

An RN’S main goal is to care for patients while upholding the standards of your facility or practice. While some responsibilities may differ from community to community, there is a great deal of overlap. When drafting your registered nurse job description, add the essentials that you know your company will require — but don’t go overboard. Instead of listing every miniscule responsibility that staff will be required to perform, add a line to your Registered Nurse job description that says something along the lines of “Employee may be required to complete or be responsible for additional job duties as assigned” so that there’s no confusion.

What prerequisites and requirements can you use for a Registered Nurse job description?

The prerequisites and requirements in your RN job description should match those of your competitors. If your requirements are significantly stricter than others, you’ll lose out on capable applicants. 

Some preferred qualifications can be listed as well, such as related experience providing nursing care to patients, the ability to speak a different language, or experience with computers or technology. Just make sure that these still fall under the category of beneficial to the job. 

Ready to write your RN job description?

When formulating your job description, keep it simple by following this order of sections and including the benefits your facility provides employees. And voila! You’ll be on your way to hiring a standout registered nurse for your facility.

For help hiring better talent faster, schedule a 1:1 today!

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