How to Write a Compelling Nursing Recommendation Letter

How to Write a Compelling Nursing Recommendation Letter

If your colleague, student, or former employee asks you for a nursing recommendation letter, they are placing their trust in you. 

The applicant and the recipient expect you to honestly portray their top capacities, personality attributes, and relevant experience. Now you have the challenge of writing such a letter.

A nursing recommendation letter is formal correspondence addressed to a specific potential employer, facility, or educational institution. The letter is your endorsement of a nurse’s (or aspiring nurse’s) experience, skills, qualifications, and character. 

Supervisors or professors who know the applicant well typically write letters of recommendation for nursing jobs or admission to nursing programs.

As a complement to the resume, a letter of recommendation offers a more personal and often practical perception of the applicant. It is an opportunity to provide insights into their character, work ethic, and commitment to nursing.

Nursing Reference Letter vs. Letter of Recommendation

The application process usually calls for nursing reference letters or letters of recommendation. 

Both are highly valuable for career advancement, showcasing the professional capacity of the nursing student or job applicant. However, there is one main distinction between the two:

• A letter of recommendation addresses a specific organization or person and is tailored to a particular position or purpose. It often provides details or examples regarding the applicant’s capacity that makes them a strong candidate.
• A reference letter is more general and can be used for multiple nursing school or job applications.

This article will refer to both since you can convert one to the other by making minor changes.

What You Should Include in a Nursing Reference Letter

A compelling recommendation letter describes key professional development and academic achievements, relevant skills, and volunteer or extracurricular activities. 

It also highlights outstanding personality traits, dedication to nursing, and the mentor’s confidence in the candidate’s abilities. 

A school letter of recommendation emphasizes academic performance.

7 Tips for Writing a Nursing Letter of Recommendation

These seven points can help you write effective and personal letters of recommendation.

1. Provide Real Examples

Examples show the reasons behind your appraisal of the candidate. The following example illustrates practical leadership skills and a genuine concern for patient safety.

“As a staff nurse, the candidate identified a recurring issue with patient falls in her unit. She documented several cases and suggested a few simple modifications to the environment. Her proactive approach led to the implementation of safety measures that significantly reduced the number of falls.”

2. Emphasize Specific Skills

Point out skills that the applicant has mastered in the nursing profession. These skills may include using telehealth platforms, dialysis machines, or electronic health records (EHRs). 

Soft skills, such as clear communication, are also essential to mention. Commitment to learning and adaptability are crucial in providing compassionate and capable patient care. Therefore, they are also good skills to point out.

3. Avoid Being Vague or Generic

Specific skills, qualities, or experience give the potential employer a clearer and more credible picture of the applicant than enthusiastic but vague statements. 

For example, “She is one of the best nurses I have worked with” is flattering but ambiguous. 

In contrast, the statement “I found that she consistently supports the team with expertise in electronic health records and clear and empathetic communication” provides concrete indications of her capabilities.

4. Stay Focused and Avoid Irrelevant Information

The main advantage of a letter of recommendation over a reference letter is that it speaks to a specific institution or person, allowing you to focus on their interests and needs. 

For example, a nursing home will need nurses with clinical skills in geriatrics, managing chronic conditions, memory issues, and end-of-life care. 

On the other hand, hospitals receive a broader range of patients and require nurses with varied skills based on the unit where they will work. Hospital nurses, especially in the emergency room (ER), intensive care unit (ICU), and operating room (OR), rely on the capacity to think quickly and accurately assess patient conditions.

5. Be Truthful

Use the power of truth. 

An honest endorsement that aligns with the resume and other application materials fosters trust and credibility among all concerned. 

6. Keep a Professional Tone

Clear and precise language, as well as avoiding slang or overly familiar expressions, conveys respect and seriousness. 

Your focus should be on facts and information rather than personal opinions or emotions.

7. Be Sure to Proofread

Spelling or punctuation mistakes make a poor impression and distract the reader from the message. Proofreading also allows you to remove redundant or irrelevant information or include an important point you had left out.

These tips provide a starting set of guidelines and advice to help you get started on drafting your nursing recommendation letter. View a template and a  sample letter of recommendation format to a nursing director below.

Nursing Recommendation Letter Format

You can use this format as a general guide to writing a letter of recommendation for a work position or entrance into an advanced nursing program.

• Letterhead with your name, position, hospital/organization/nursing school, address, and contact information
• Date
• Recipient’s name with their position/title, hospital/organization, and address (including city and state)
• Greeting addressing a specific person or committee with information provided by the applicant (“Dear…”)
• Brief introduction describing your professional relationship with the applicant and specifying the duration and context of your acquaintance
• Main content (describing the candidate’s skills, personal qualities, communications, and teamwork and highlighting the most outstanding points with pertinent examples; mentioning professional qualifications, specializations, and relevant experience; acknowledging significant achievements, contributions, and awards or honors)
• Conclusion (wholeheartedly endorsing the candidate for the position or program and summarizing the key reasons they are suitable for the opportunity; inviting further communication for additional information)
• Sign-off (“Sincerely, [Your name and signature]”)

Use the above format and tips creatively to craft an engaging and compelling nursing letter of recommendation, such as the following example.

Sample Letter of Recommendation to a Director of Nursing

Dear [name of Nursing Director],

As a Nursing Supervisor at Buffalo Memorial Hospital in New York State, I have worked with [name of the applicant] for three years. During that time, I admired his/her reliable dedication to the hospital as a staff nurse, first in the med-surg unit and then in the intensive care unit. He/she was promoted to the ICU due to his/her advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) skills and proficiency with specialized equipment such as ventilators, infusion pumps, and monitoring devices.

[Name of applicant] demonstrated high levels of leadership and initiative; I will mention one recent example. He/she recognized the need to improve team performance during resuscitations and spoke about it with his/her supervisor. Together, they organized ACLS training sessions for healthcare professionals on staff, resulting in reduced time to defibrillation, slightly increased survival rates, and reduced neurological damage. This example also shows his/her outstanding capacity for teamwork with supervisors and other colleagues.

During his/her school years, he/she volunteered at a nearby nursing home, visiting the residents. He/she established genuine friendships with patience and loving appreciation.

He/she graduated from the [name] Nursing School and has continued to develop professional expertise through experience and online courses. Two of the several courses he/she has successfully completed are Vital Signs—Understanding What the Body Is Telling Us (University of Pennsylvania) and Leading Healthcare Quality and Safety (George Washington University).

I highly recommend [name]. I am confident he/she will be a suitable fit for the assistant nursing manager role at [name of healthcare facility]. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

[Name and signature]

Springer Publishing offers more examples of letters of reference, which you can adapt to work as letters of recommendation. The University of Central Florida also shares tips for writing strong letters of recommendation. Some universities have templates or forms for recommendations that you can find online.

More Nursing and Career Resources by Nursa

Nursa provides guides to writing a noteworthy and informative nursing resume, an engaging cover letter, and a notification letter of your move to PRN work. Nursa also has a guide on how to conduct a performance evaluation. 

You can also find a variety of resources for nurses and facilities. These tools and resources are here to make your job a little easier.

Sources:

• The National Library of Medicine: Writing an Effective & Supportive Recommendation Letter 
• Johns Hopkins Nursing: How to Strengthen Your Application through Purposeful References
• University of Central Florida: Tips for Writing Strong Letters of Recommendation
• Springer Publishing Company: Appendix F: Sample Letters of Reference
• Sample Forms: Registered Nurse Recommendation Letter