Gerald Pietrzak Director of Nursing Services, RN, MSN Erie, 16508, United States [email protected] · (814) 555-1252
11 September 2026
Ms. Roslyn Ondrusek Administrator Lakeshore Terrace Rehabilitation and Nursing Erie, United States
Application for Director of Nursing Services, Lakeshore Terrace Rehabilitation and Nursing
Dear Ms. Ondrusek,
I am applying for the Director of Nursing Services post at Lakeshore Terrace Rehabilitation and Nursing. I am a Pennsylvania registered nurse with 19 years in long-term care, and I currently lead nursing for a 120 bed skilled nursing facility with three units, an average census of 108 and 94 nursing staff across all shifts.
Two things from that building are worth your time. The facility moved from a two star to a four star overall CMS rating across two survey cycles, with the improvement concentrated in the health inspection and staffing domains. I owned the work behind both: a monthly clinical audit calendar covering falls, pressure injuries, weight loss, antipsychotic use and infection control, and a correction to our Payroll-Based Journal submission after an internal review found hours coded to the wrong job categories. Over the same period agency use fell from 18% of nursing hours to 6%, which came from rebuilding the master schedule and running a facility-based aide training program rather than from raising rates.
Your posting mentions a survey cycle closing this year and a secured memory care unit opening in the spring. In the first month I would want to see the last statement of deficiencies and the plan of correction, the current Payroll-Based Journal submission against the actual schedule, and the audit calendar as it stands. Those three documents usually explain most of what a building is worried about.
My Pennsylvania license is active through October 2027 and I am available for the on-call rotation a director of nursing carries. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Gerald Pietrzak, RN, MSN
Summary
A nursing home cover letter names the building you came from, the survey outcome you helped produce and the staffing problem you fixed. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, the openings that work in long-term care, what counts as evidence without breaching resident confidentiality, and what the 2026 change in federal survey policy means for the letter you send.
Nursing Home cover letter examples by experience level
A nursing home cover letter is a one page letter you write for a reader with a public scorecard: an administrator running a building with a published star rating, a quarterly staffing submission and a survey window that is never fully closed.
The letter has one job: to show that hiring you lowers risk in that building rather than adding to it. Almost every applicant writes about compassion instead, which is why a letter with a survey outcome and a staffing number in it stands out.
Guide to a nursing home cover letter
Specifically, this guide and the corresponding nursing home cover letter example will cover:
- First, how to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Then, why the building you came from belongs in the first two sentences
- Also, what counts as evidence without describing a resident
- In addition, what the 2026 change in survey policy means for your letter
- Finally, the closing lines that get a reader to open a file the same day
How to write a nursing home cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The post, your credential and the building you came from | 2 to 3 sentences |
| Evidence | One survey or quality outcome and one staffing number | 4 to 5 sentences |
| Fit | Something specific about their facility, and what you would start with | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | License status, shift availability, thank you | 2 sentences |
Describe the building, not the feeling
An administrator is scaling you in the first two sentences. A 48 bed rural building with one unit and a 220 bed facility with a secured memory care unit are different jobs with the same title.
Give five facts: license or certification, bed count, unit types, average census and payer mix. "I am a Pennsylvania registered nurse and charge nurse on a 48 bed skilled unit inside a 120 bed building" tells the reader more than any sentence about dedication.
Then say which shifts you will work. Availability on nights, weekends and holidays is a genuine screening criterion in long-term care, and stating it early moves your file up.
A nursing home cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Ms. Ondrusek,
I am applying for the Director of Nursing Services post at Lakeshore Terrace Rehabilitation and Nursing. I am a Pennsylvania registered nurse with 19 years in long-term care, and I currently lead nursing for a 120 bed skilled nursing facility with three units, an average census of 108 and 94 nursing staff across all shifts.
Two things from that building are worth your time. The facility moved from a two star to a four star overall CMS rating across two survey cycles, with the improvement concentrated in the health inspection and staffing domains. I owned the work behind both: a monthly clinical audit calendar covering falls, pressure injuries, weight loss, antipsychotic use and infection control, and a correction to our Payroll-Based Journal submission after an internal review found hours coded to the wrong job categories. Over the same period agency use fell from 18% of nursing hours to 6%, which came from rebuilding the master schedule and running a facility-based aide training program rather than from raising rates.
Your posting mentions a survey cycle closing this year and a secured memory care unit opening in the spring. In the first month I would want to see the last statement of deficiencies and the plan of correction, the current Payroll-Based Journal submission against the actual schedule, and the audit calendar as it stands. Those three documents usually explain most of what a building is worried about.
My Pennsylvania license is active through October 2027 and I am available for the on-call rotation a director of nursing carries. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Gerald Pietrzak, RN, MSN
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| I have a passion for caring for the elderly | I am a Pennsylvania registered nurse with 19 years in long-term care, leading nursing for a 120 bed facility |
| I am writing to express my interest in your facility | I am applying for the Director of Nursing Services post at Lakeshore Terrace |
| I have a proven record of improving quality | The building moved from two stars to four across two survey cycles, with the gain in health inspections |
What counts as evidence, and what you must never write
In practice, long-term care gives you plenty to quote, and none of it requires describing a person.
| Kind of evidence | What it looks like in a sentence |
|---|---|
| Survey | Entered the last standard survey with no deficiency at the harm level on my units |
| Correction | Wrote and evidenced the plan of correction within the required window |
| Quality measure | Cut unplanned 30 day hospital readmissions from 21% to 14% over six quarters |
| Staffing | Reduced agency from 18% of nursing hours to 6% across four quarters |
| Data | Reconciled Payroll-Based Journal submission to the schedule before each quarterly filing |
In short, the rule underneath all of it: never name or describe an identifiable resident, family member or colleague, and never quote an incident in enough detail to identify one. After all, a vivid anecdote about a resident is the fastest way to make the person whose license covers the building read you as a confidentiality risk.
Survey policy changed in 2026, and the criteria read like a job description
CMS announced a risk-based survey approach on 16 July 2026, built on a pilot across 22 states and beginning in September 2026, under which higher-performing facilities receive streamlined surveys while all facilities still receive a standard survey at least every 15 months (CMS press release, 16 July 2026).
To qualify, a facility needs a five-star rating, accurate data submission, zero citations indicating harm or substandard care in the last survey cycle, and no recent ownership change. CMS expects about 12 percent of facilities to qualify initially, and the designation displays on Care Compare at Medicare.gov (CMS press release, 16 July 2026).
Those four criteria are the letter. Accurate data submission and a clean last cycle are things a nurse leader produces, and the administrator reading your letter now has a concrete threshold to aim at. Saying you have done either, in a sentence with a number in it, beats a paragraph about values.
What to change for the building you are writing to
Look up the facility on Care Compare before you write and name one thing you found. Match the letter to the role: aides write about the unit and the assignment, nurses about clinical outcome and documentation, leaders about staffing data and survey. Give two numbers, not six. Name the shifts you will cover and your license expiry.
Do not describe a resident, a family or an incident. Do not claim the overall star rating as your own work. Do not criticise your current building, because the reader hears how you will describe theirs. Do not send a letter with no facility name in it. Do not repeat your resume line by line.
Ownership matters here. Meanwhile, an independent building, a regional group and a national operator read letters differently: the independent wants someone who will stay, the group wants someone who can work to a standard set elsewhere, and a building under new ownership wants stability.
Length, format and sending it
Overall, one page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. PDF unless the portal asks otherwise, named for yourself and the post.
Address a person. The facility website or the posting usually names administrators and directors of nursing; as a result, "Dear Hiring Manager" reads as a letter sent to every building nearby.
Keep the figures identical to those on your resume. Our nursing home resume example uses the same numbers.
Key takeaways
- First, name your credential and the building you came from in the first two sentences.
- Then give beds, units, census and payer mix rather than "busy facility".
- Next, quote one survey or quality outcome and one staffing or census number.
- Claim only the domain of the rating you actually affected.
- Above all, never describe an identifiable resident, family member or incident.
- Finally, say which shifts you will work and confirm your license expiry.
- Name one real thing about their building and what you would look at first.
Write your nursing home cover letter in 10 minutes with our AI cover letter builder.
Nursing home cover letter questions, answered
How long should a nursing home cover letter be?
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. Administrators read these between a survey visit and a staffing call, and a second page is skimmed.
What do I write if I have only worked in hospitals?
Translate what you did into the building's vocabulary. Census carried, documentation systems, change of condition reporting, dementia support and wound care all transfer, as does audit or committee work. Then say plainly that you are moving into long-term care on purpose, because an administrator's real worry is that you will leave after a year.
Should I mention the facility's star rating in the letter?
Yes, if you have read it properly. Naming the domain you noticed, such as staffing or health inspections, and saying what you would look at first shows you understand how the rating is built. Quoting the overall number tells the reader you looked at one figure and stopped.
How do I write about a facility that was cited while I worked there?
Directly and without blame. Say what the deficiency area was in general terms, what the plan of correction required, and what you did to evidence it. Long-term care leaders have all lived through citations, and a candidate who can describe correcting one is more useful than one who implies they have never seen one.
Is it worth writing a letter for an aide or floor nurse post?
Yes, and it is unusual enough to work. Most applicants at that level send nothing. Four short paragraphs naming your certification, the unit and census you carry, your shift availability and one thing you do well on the floor will often be the only letter in the pile.