PCT--Pre-Op/Recovery-Contingent

Trinity Health•Ann Arbor, MI

About The Position

Under the direction of a registered nurse, the Patient Care Technician provides direct patient care while considering age-specific, developmental, cultural, and spiritual needs. The technician demonstrates unit-designated competencies and helps maintain a clean, safe environment that supports patient and family well-being and relationship-based care. The role includes communicating patient needs and changes to the RN, participating in handoffs and hourly rounding, responding to requests, and performing delegated nursing care and activities of daily living. Responsibilities also include specimen collection, point-of-care testing, routine monitoring, selected catheter and IV tasks, wound and tracheostomy care, newborn care, documentation, room preparation, and maintaining unit supplies and equipment. The technician supports effective patient and unit outcomes through organization, appropriate use of resources, ongoing learning, cooperative relationships, confidentiality, adherence to hospital policies and infection-control practices, and safe work practices. Administrative supervision is provided by the Nurse Manager; functional supervision is provided by a Registered Nurse.

Requirements

High school diploma or GED.
At least one year of previous direct-care experience in acute or long-term care, or successful completion of a CENA, PCT, MA, or EMT course. Student nurses must have completed the nursing fundamentals class of a BSN program.
Interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with patients, families, and employees.
Ability to follow instructions and record patient information.
Ability to prioritize assigned tasks and organize work.
Ability to walk and stand for 90% of the shift.
Ability to lift, turn, and position patients.
Ability to concentrate and pay close attention to details for more than 90% of the time.
Ability to work in an area with potential exposure to infectious agents or contaminants.
Basic computer skills, including email and simple word processing.
Maintain AHA Heartsaver certification.

Responsibilities

Communicate effectively with team members; report patient needs, abnormal findings, and condition changes to the RN; participate in handoffs, perform purposeful hourly rounding, and respond promptly to patient requests.
Perform nursing care delegated by the RN, including recording intake and output, obtaining weights and routine vital signs, measuring pain and temperature, applying support devices and warm or cold therapies, providing routine oxygen therapy and pulse oximetry, and caring for restrained patients.
Assist patients with coughing, deep breathing, incentive spirometer use, and oral suctioning; provide care and removal of Foley catheters; and assist with preparation of the body following death.
Assist patients with activities of daily living, including bathing, toileting, positioning, turning, transferring, ambulation, feeding, and menu selection; distribute and collect nourishments, order late trays, and answer call lights.
Use sterile or aseptic technique as appropriate when collecting and sending specimens, obtaining blood specimens from intermittent infusion devices and flushing those devices, inserting and removing peripheral IV catheters, and performing competency-based point-of-care testing such as blood glucose testing.
Record patient information and required data in appropriate areas to meet documentation and charging requirements.
Maintain a clean, safe patient-care environment; document patient belongings upon admission; prepare rooms; assist with transfers and discharges; orient patients, families, and visitors; help them use hospital equipment; make beds; handle soiled linen; and clean and maintain equipment.
Provide delegated wound and exit-site care, including simple dressings on eligible clean stage I or II wounds after RN assessment, securing complex dressings changed by other caregivers, and PEG care and dressing changes.
Complete delegated unit-specific activities, including gathering post-procedural data after initial nursing assessment, placing patients on monitors or telemetry and maintaining lead placement, clean intermittent urinary catheterization, checking and restocking emergency equipment and supplies and nurse servers, and tracheostomy care and suctioning.
Bottle-feed infants; assist new breastfeeding mothers with infant latching and positioning, breast-pump setup, and initiation of pumping; and complete and document newborn hearing screens.
Demonstrate organizational and time-management skills and use unit resources cost-effectively.
Attend appropriate in-services, continuing education, and mandatory programs to support ongoing learning.
Maintain cooperative relationships with staff, patients, visitors, and team members; address conflict constructively; help identify and resolve problems; use service recovery strategies as appropriate; and promote customer satisfaction and a positive patient experience.
Protect confidential patient, physician, associate, and visitor information; follow HIPAA policies and procedures.
Behave in accordance with the hospital's Mission, Vision, Values, and performance standards, and integrate Relationship Based Care into the role.
Follow hospital policies and procedures, including infection-control practices and appropriate use of personal protective equipment when in contact with body fluids.
Perform duties safely and report preventable hazards, unsafe practices, near misses, and actual errors promptly.