Patient Care Assistant Jobs

About The Position

Requirements

• CPR certification is required.
• No minimum experience is specified.
• Education is not specified as a strict minimum; candidates may demonstrate the required knowledge, skills, and abilities through any combination of formal education and/or prior work experience, typically equivalent to a high school diploma or GED.

Nice To Haves

• A high school diploma or GED may be preferred.

Responsibilities

• Measure and record 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 transfers to and from bed and wheelchairs, including transport when needed.
• Support patients’ nutritional needs by distributing meal trays, feeding patients, and filling and distributing water pitchers.
• Provide morning or evening care, which may include bed baths, oral hygiene, hair care, back care, dressing, linen changes, cleaning bedside surfaces, and other supportive care.
• 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.
• Position, lift, and turn patients; assist with bedpans, urinals, and commodes; provide preoperative supportive care; and apply or remove 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 plan of care.
• Perform phlebotomy after additional training, including labeling 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 equipment function at the bedside; ambulate patients with oxygen.
• Set up suction equipment and check that it functions properly.
• Provide age-specific care for the population served and demonstrate competency in skills on the Nursing Assistant checklist.
• Follow policies, procedures, and safety standards; complete required annual education; work toward goals and objectives; and participate in quality-improvement initiatives as requested.
• Complete sitter training and be willing to provide full-time supervision for patients who need it.
• Perform other duties as assigned.