Patient Care Assistant Jobs

About The Position

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.
• No minimum experience is specified.
• CPR is required.
• Must be trained and willing to function as a sitter for patients who need full-time hospital supervision.

Nice To Haves

• Preference may be given to individuals with a high school diploma or GED.

Responsibilities

• Take and record temperature, pulse, respiration rates, blood pressure, weight, height, and intake-output measurements.
• Encourage patients to turn, cough, breathe deeply, and use incentive spirometry as specified by the Plan of Care.
• Ambulate patients and assist them with transfers to and from beds, wheelchairs, and transport.
• Attend to patients’ nutritional needs, including distributing meal trays, feeding, and providing water pitchers.
• Provide morning or evening care, including bathing, oral hygiene, hair care, back care, dressing, linen changes, and room and bedside-area tidying.
• Empty drains, canisters, urine bags, bedpans, and emesis basins, and record intake and output.
• Help maintain a safe environment by reporting malfunctioning equipment and handling linen and supplies appropriately.
• Provide general care, including positioning, lifting, turning, 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 by the patient’s Plan of Care.
• Perform phlebotomy after additional training, including 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 oxygen connections, placement, and 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; work toward goals and objectives; and participate in quality-improvement initiatives as requested.
• Train and remain willing to function as a sitter for patients requiring full-time hospital supervision.
• Perform other duties as assigned.