Continuing Care Assistants, Nurses Aides, Orderlies and Patient Service Associates

Nature of work

Continuing care assistants (CCA), nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates help nurses, hospital staff, and physicians in the basic care of patients. They work in hospitals, nursing homes, assisted care facilities for the elderly, and other health care organizations.

Job duties

Continuing care assistants, nurse aides, orderlies, and patient service associates:

• Bathe, dress and groom patients or residents.
• Answer call signals, supply and empty bed pans, serve meal trays, feed or assist in feeding of patients, help patients with menu selection, shave patients prior to operators, and supervise patients’ exercise routines.
• Weigh, lift, turn, and position patients.
• Set up and provide leisure activities for patients and accompany patients on outside recreational activities.
• Take patients' vitals, report or record fluid intake and output, observe or monitor patients' status and document patient care on charts, administer first aid in emergency situations, collect specimens like urine, faeces or sputum, administer suppositories, colonic irrigations and enemas and perform other procedures as directed by nursing and hospital staff.
• Transport patients by wheelchair or stretcher for treatment or surgery.
• Carry messages, reports, requisitions, and specimens between departments.
• Make beds and maintain patients' rooms.
• Maintain inventory of supplies.
• May perform maintenance tasks like helping set-up and maintain traction equipment, cleaning or sterilizing equipment, maintaining, and repairing equipment, and assembling, setting-up and operating job-related equipment.
• May transport patients between care facilities.

Sample job titles

• continuing care assistant
• emergency medical care attendant (EMCA)
• health care aide
• hospice worker
• hospital attendant
• nurse aide
• nursing home attendant
• orderly
• personal care provider - medical
• psychiatric aide

Skills

• You should have good interpersonal skills and a desire to help others. Patience and the ability to handle stressful situations may be needed. You should be an effective communicator and a good problem-solver. You must be efficient and accurate, yet sensitive to the needs of clients.

Job requirements

• Some high school education and on-the-job training or a nursing aide or health care aide college or private institutional program, or a college nursing orderly program and supervised practical training are required.
• To practice as a continuing care assistant (CCA) in Nova Scotia, an individual must be a graduate of an approved CCA program and have successfully completed the Nova Scotia CCA provincial exam.
• Some health care facilities may also require completion of specialized courses like CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), first aid and food handling/sterile processing.
• An appropriate class of driver's licence may be required for medical attendants.

Other considerations

• Shift work and lifting are often required.

Regulations

Contacts