Choose from a wide range of NEWCV resume templates and customize your NEWCV design with a single click.
Use ATS-optimised Resume and resume templates that pass applicant tracking systems. Our Resume builder helps recruiters read, scan, and shortlist your Resume faster.
Use professional field-tested resume templates that follow the exact Resume rules employers look for.
Create Resume
Use professional field-tested resume templates that follow the exact Resume rules employers look for.
Create ResumeIf you are a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), certifications can directly affect your employability, specialty options, and earning potential. In most US healthcare settings, employers expect more than just an active nursing license. Clinics, long-term care facilities, hospitals, home health agencies, and specialty practices increasingly prioritize LPNs with additional certifications tied to patient safety, compliance, medication administration, and specialty care.
The most important credentials for most LPNs include an active LPN/LVN license, NCLEX-PN completion, Basic Life Support (BLS), HIPAA training, OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens training, and infection control education. Beyond that, the best certifications depend heavily on your nursing niche. A pediatric LPN needs different credentials than a hospice or correctional LPN.
This guide explains which certifications are required, which ones actually improve hiring outcomes, which credentials employers care about most, and how to position certifications effectively on an LPN resume.
Before employers consider specialty certifications, they first verify whether you meet the legal and clinical baseline requirements to practice practical nursing.
An active state-issued nursing license is mandatory in the United States.
Employers typically verify:
License status
Expiration date
Disciplinary history
Multi-state compact eligibility where applicable
Your license must remain active and in good standing. Even highly experienced candidates are often screened out immediately if their license status appears inactive or pending.
The NCLEX-PN is the licensing examination required after completing a state-approved practical nursing program.
Passing the NCLEX-PN demonstrates:
Some certifications appear repeatedly across healthcare job postings because they reduce employer training burden and support compliance requirements.
BLS certification is one of the most commonly required credentials for LPN jobs.
Most employers prefer:
American Heart Association (AHA) BLS
Active certification status
Hands-on skills validation
BLS is especially important for:
Clinics
Skilled nursing facilities
Hospitals
The highest-value certifications are usually specialty-aligned rather than generic.
This is where many LPNs make strategic mistakes. They accumulate unrelated certifications that do not improve hiring outcomes for their target role.
The best approach is niche alignment.
Clinical judgment competency
Safe medication administration understanding
Patient care readiness
Basic nursing knowledge standards
Many new graduates incorrectly assume employers only care about the license itself. In reality, recruiters often ask about NCLEX timing, especially when hiring recent graduates or residency-track LPNs.
US employers generally expect graduation from an accredited or state-approved nursing program.
Recruiters often verify:
Program accreditation
Graduation date
Clinical rotation completion
Eligibility for state licensure
This matters especially for:
Hospital systems
Federal healthcare facilities
Veterans Affairs employers
Magnet-designated organizations
Home health agencies
Rehabilitation centers
Recruiter insight: Many healthcare systems automatically reject applicants whose BLS certification expires within the onboarding window.
Although often grouped with BLS, CPR and First Aid credentials still matter independently in some non-hospital environments.
These are commonly requested for:
School nursing support
Assisted living facilities
Community health settings
Home healthcare
HIPAA training demonstrates understanding of patient privacy regulations and healthcare compliance.
Employers value this because it reduces:
Compliance risk
Documentation errors
Privacy violations
While HIPAA certification alone will not secure interviews, its absence can make newer candidates appear underprepared.
This training is highly relevant for nurses working with:
Sharps
Bodily fluids
Specimen collection
Wound care
Long-term care populations
Facilities prioritize candidates who already understand workplace exposure prevention standards.
Infection prevention became significantly more important after COVID-era operational changes.
Healthcare employers increasingly expect practical understanding of:
PPE procedures
Isolation precautions
Sterile technique
Cross-contamination prevention
This credential is particularly valuable in:
Skilled nursing
Long-term care
Dialysis
Rehabilitation
Home health
Long-term care employers prioritize patient safety, chronic condition management, and documentation consistency.
BLS certification
Wound care certification
Dementia care certification
Infection control training
MDS documentation training
Gerontology certification
Long-term care hiring managers focus heavily on:
Fall prevention awareness
Skin integrity management
Medication accuracy
Resident behavior management
Regulatory compliance
Wound care and dementia credentials are especially valuable because they directly impact facility quality metrics and survey outcomes.
Many LTC LPN applicants list only generic CPR training while omitting specialized resident-care competencies that facilities actually prioritize.
Outpatient clinics prioritize efficiency, procedural support, and patient throughput.
BLS certification
Phlebotomy certification
Immunization training
Electronic Health Record (EHR) training
Medication administration training
Clinic managers prefer candidates who can:
Room patients quickly
Administer vaccines
Handle documentation accurately
Draw blood efficiently
Support high-volume workflows
Phlebotomy certification often creates a major competitive advantage in urgent care, primary care, and specialty clinics.
Home health nurses work with greater autonomy and variable patient environments.
BLS certification
Pediatric care training
Trach and ventilator training where permitted
Caregiver education training
Infection control certification
Home health agencies value nurses who can independently:
Identify deterioration early
Educate families effectively
Manage equipment safely
Adapt to unpredictable environments
Recruiter insight: Home health employers often prioritize practical competency certifications over academic achievements because the role involves less direct supervision.
Hospice employers prioritize emotional intelligence, symptom management, and end-of-life care competency.
Hospice and palliative care training
Pain management education
Dementia care certification
Infection control training
Hospice employers evaluate:
Communication ability
Family interaction skills
Comfort with terminal care
Compassion fatigue awareness
Candidates who only emphasize technical nursing tasks often underperform during hospice interviews.
Correctional healthcare environments require crisis readiness and behavioral safety awareness.
BLS certification
Emergency response training
Behavioral health safety training
Medication administration certification
Correctional healthcare employers focus heavily on:
Safety awareness
De-escalation ability
Medication security
Emergency response readiness
Behavioral health and emergency response training can significantly strengthen applications in this niche.
Pediatric nursing requires stronger medication precision and age-specific care competency.
Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS)
BLS certification
Pediatric medication safety training
Immunization training
Pediatric employers are highly risk-sensitive.
Hiring managers want evidence that candidates understand:
Weight-based dosing
Pediatric emergencies
Child safety protocols
Parent communication dynamics
PALS can be a major differentiator in pediatric clinics and specialty practices.
IV therapy certification can significantly expand job opportunities in states where LPN scope of practice allows IV-related duties.
However, scope varies by state.
Some states permit:
IV insertion
Fluid administration
Medication pushes under supervision
Other states restrict certain IV functions entirely.
Employers value IV-certified LPNs because they:
Increase staffing flexibility
Reduce RN workload
Improve patient throughput
Support outpatient procedures
IV therapy certification is especially valuable in:
Infusion clinics
Dialysis centers
Urgent care
Surgical recovery settings
Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) is not universally required for LPNs, but it can improve competitiveness in higher-acuity settings.
ACLS may strengthen applications for:
Telemetry units
Emergency departments
Cardiology practices
Urgent care environments
Some employers reserve ACLS-required responsibilities primarily for RNs.
LPNs should pursue ACLS strategically rather than assuming it universally improves employability.
Phlebotomy certification is one of the most practical add-on credentials for outpatient nursing roles.
Family medicine clinics
Urgent care
Internal medicine
Specialty practices
Lab-focused environments
Employers increasingly prefer multi-skilled support staff.
An LPN who can:
Draw blood
Handle intake
Perform injections
Support documentation
often provides stronger operational value than candidates with only bedside nursing experience.
Not every certification improves hiring outcomes equally.
The best certifications:
Match the target role
Support patient safety
Reduce onboarding burden
Improve staffing flexibility
Demonstrate specialty alignment
Active LPN/LVN License
BLS Certification
CPR/First Aid
Infection Control Training
HIPAA Training
OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Training
Medication Administration Training
Wound Care Certification
IV Therapy Certification
PALS
ACLS
Dementia Care Certification
Phlebotomy Certification
Hospice and Palliative Care Training
This section is frequently mishandled.
Recruiters scan certifications quickly. If your credentials are difficult to find, you lose screening advantages.
Place certifications:
Near the top for healthcare resumes
Immediately after licensure if highly relevant
Before work experience for newer graduates
Certifications
Active Texas LVN License
Basic Life Support (BLS), American Heart Association
IV Therapy Certification
Wound Care Certification
HIPAA & OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Training
Certifications
CPR
Nursing stuff
Healthcare certifications available upon request
The weak version creates multiple recruiter concerns:
Lack of specificity
Unclear credential validity
Poor ATS optimization
Reduced professionalism
Healthcare recruiters routinely verify expiration dates.
Expired certifications signal:
Poor compliance management
Potential onboarding delays
Reduced reliability
Always remove expired credentials unless marked clearly as pending renewal.
Unrelated certifications dilute positioning.
For example:
Cosmetic certifications on a correctional nursing resume
Hospice training on an urgent care-focused resume
Pediatric credentials for geriatric LTC applications
Your certifications should reinforce your target role identity.
Recruiters often need immediate visibility into:
State license status
License number format where appropriate
Compact eligibility
Expiration date
Failure to provide this information slows screening.
Short generic online certificates often provide little hiring value.
Recruiters care far more about:
Recognized providers
Clinical applicability
Compliance relevance
Specialty alignment
Ten weak certificates rarely outperform two highly relevant credentials.
When employers evaluate educational background, they usually focus less on school prestige and more on:
Accreditation
NCLEX pass rates
Clinical training quality
Graduation readiness
Hands-on clinical rotations
Medication administration training
Electronic charting exposure
Simulation labs
Long-term care clinical experience
Acute care exposure
Hiring managers consistently prioritize graduates who can:
Function safely under supervision
Document accurately
Adapt to workflow quickly
Communicate professionally
Learn fast during onboarding
Clinical readiness matters more than theoretical academic distinctions in most LPN hiring decisions.
Most candidates misunderstand how healthcare recruiters review certifications.
Recruiters are not simply checking boxes.
They evaluate whether your credentials reduce hiring risk.
Can this nurse safely function with minimal retraining?
Does this candidate understand the realities of this nursing environment?
Will this person reduce onboarding time and staffing strain?
This is why targeted certifications outperform random credential accumulation.
A clinic manager may value phlebotomy more than ACLS.
A long-term care employer may value dementia care training more than PALS.
The best certification strategy is role-specific positioning.
Upload Resume
Import from Linkedin
