Patient Care Assistant

Covenant Health•Knoxville, TN

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Patient Care Assistant is a direct patient caregiver who performs 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 serve as a sitter for patients who need full-time supervision in the hospital. The position is PRN/OCC, with variable hours per pay period, and is a night-shift role at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center.

Requirements

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

Nice To Haves

A high school diploma or GED is preferred.

Responsibilities

Take and record patients’ temperature, pulse, respiration rates, blood pressure, weight, height, and intake and output.
Encourage patients to turn, cough, take deep breaths, and use incentive spirometry as specified by the plan of care.
Ambulate patients and assist them in and out of bed, into wheelchairs, and with transport as needed.
Attend to patients’ nutritional needs, including distributing meal trays, feeding, and filling and distributing water pitchers.
Provide morning or evening care, including bed baths, oral hygiene, grooming, back care, dressing, changing bed linens, cleaning bedside surfaces, straightening rooms, and other supportive care.
Empty drains, canisters, urine bags, bedpans, and emesis basins, and record intake and output.
Help maintain a safe environment, including reporting malfunctioning equipment and handling linens and supplies appropriately.
Provide general care such as positioning, lifting, and turning patients; assisting with bedpans, urinals, or commodes; providing 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 samples using two patient identifiers and maintaining, rotating, and restocking lab-draw supplies.
Perform EKGs after special training.
Promptly answer patient call lights 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 equipment function at the bedside.
Ambulate patients who are using oxygen.
Set up suction equipment and check that it functions properly.
Demonstrate knowledge and competency in meeting the 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.
Be trained and willing to serve as a sitter for patients who need full-time hospital supervision.
Perform other duties as assigned.