A patient care assistant is someone who works under the direction of a doctor or a nurse. A person in this position, as the name implies, provides care and treatment to patients in a hospital or healthcare facility. A person with excellent interpersonal skills, good organizational habits, and an empathetic nature is usually successful in this field. In general, to work in this field, you’ll need a certificate in patient care from a vocational school. Monitoring the status of patients, assisting patients with eating, assisting with hygiene, transporting patients, and maintaining supplies are all common responsibilities of a patient care assistant.
Monitoring the status of patients on a regular basis is an important part of this job. A patient care assistant is primarily responsible for taking vital signs, ensuring that the patient is comfortable, and observing behavior. The assistant will notify a doctor or nurse if a patient is experiencing pain or other medical complications. In most cases, she’ll also need to fill out reports to keep track of each patient’s progress. Because of the high level of social interaction, it’s critical for a patient care assistant to get to know and establish rapport with each patient.
Assisting patients with meal preparation is another aspect of this job. When a patient is unable to feed himself, it is the responsibility of a patient care assistant to assist him. If a patient has dietary restrictions, it is also the assistant’s responsibility to ensure that each meal meets those requirements. If a patient’s diet is restricted to soft foods, she would ensure that solid foods are pureed.
In addition, a patient care assistant is frequently needed to help with a patient’s hygiene. This usually entails assisting him in putting on clothes, brushing his teeth, grooming, and bathing. She may also clean, organize, and maintain the sanitation of a patient’s room.
It is also necessary to transport patients from one department to another. Because some medical facilities are large, a patient care assistant may be required to transport a patient from his room to another area, such as a surgery room, in a wheelchair. She may need to move a patient to the lobby to be picked up by family members if he is being discharged.
In addition, maintaining supplies is frequently the responsibility of a patient care assistant. She might, for example, be responsible for keeping an eye on a storage area and performing inventory counts on items such as syringes, rubber gloves, and bandages. She must either report to a supervisor or order new supplies herself when supplies are running low.