Patient Care Assistant

Covenant Health•Knoxville, TN

About The Position

The Patient Care Assistant functions as a direct patient caregiver, performing tasks to assist registered nurses. Under the supervision of the Team Leader, the role provides hands-on care, assistance with activities of daily living, and specified technical tasks for a group of patients. The assistant may also function as a sitter for patients who need full-time supervision in the hospital. Parkwest Medical Center is Covenant Health’s flagship facility in West Knoxville. It provides advanced cardiac, emergency, critical care, breast health, and other services to the East Tennessee community. The facility is part of Covenant Health, the region’s largest employer.

Requirements

No minimum education is specified; an equivalent combination of formal education and/or prior work experience must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the job. This is typically equivalent to a high school diploma or GED.
CPR is required.
Must be trained and willing to function as a sitter for patients requiring full-time supervision in the hospital.

Nice To Haves

A high school diploma or GED is preferred.

Responsibilities

Measure and record patients’ temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, weight, height, and intake and output.
Encourage patients to turn, cough, breathe deeply, and use incentive spirometry as specified in the plan of care.
Ambulate patients and assist them with getting in and out of bed, transferring to wheelchairs, and transportation when needed.
Support patients’ nutritional needs, including distributing meal trays, feeding, and filling and distributing water pitchers.
Provide morning or evening care, which may include bathing, oral hygiene, hair care, back care, dressing, changing bed linens, cleaning bedside furniture, and straightening rooms.
Empty drains, canisters, urine bags, bedpans, and emesis basins, and record intake and output.
Help maintain a safe environment, report malfunctioning equipment, handle linen appropriately, and store supplies.
Provide general care, including positioning, lifting, and turning patients; assisting with bedpans, urinals, or commodes; preoperative supportive care; and applying or removing abdominal binders, anti-embolism stockings, and sequential compression devices.
Empty and clean ostomy bags according to procedure.
Collect urine, stool, and sputum specimens as ordered.
Perform range-of-motion tasks and assist with ambulatory devices as specified in the patient’s plan of care.
Perform phlebotomy after additional training, including correctly labeling specimens with two patient identifiers and maintaining, rotating, and restocking lab-draw supplies.
Perform EKGs after special training.
Answer patient call lights promptly and respond to patient requests.
Report significant changes in patients’ conditions to the RN.
Help maintain clean and orderly patient and work environments.
Follow infection-control policies, including standard and transmission-based precautions, OSHA standards, safety measures, and proper body mechanics.
Document and maintain patient records as appropriate.
Gather equipment for oxygen setup and check connections, placement, and proper functioning at the bedside.
Ambulate patients receiving oxygen.
Set up suction equipment and check that it functions properly.
Demonstrate knowledge and competency in providing for age-specific needs of the population served and perform skills on the Nursing Assistant checklist.
Follow policies, procedures, and safety standards; complete required annual education assignments; work toward goals and objectives; and participate in quality-improvement initiatives as requested.
Train and be willing to function as a sitter for patients requiring full-time supervision in the hospital.
Perform other duties as assigned.