Patient Support Assistant

About the role

Assist licensed clinicians in the provision of direct and indirect patient care on assigned unit.

Responsibilities

• Performs and/or assists the patient with activities of daily living (e.g. bathing, grooming, eating, walking).
• Maintains environmental cleanliness and safety of patient rooms, unit, and equipment.
• Provides assistance to patients, visitors, and nursing personnel in assigned unit and maintains flexibility to help other departments with patient care as needed.
• Assists in creating the ideal patient experience through development of respectful and compassionate relationships with each patient and family.
• May serve as a patient safety champion, empowering equal responsibility for all safety guidelines among all licensed and unlicensed caregivers.
• May assist in telemetry cardiac monitoring, recognizing life-threatening arrhythmias and communicates immediately to available licensed clinician.
• May act as a transporter for the nursing unit assigned; runs errands to either pickup or deliver items for patient care.
• Performs delegable nursing tasks delegated by the Registered Nurse, including tasks with predictable results, safe execution, minimal risk, and no requirement for complex observations or critical decisions.
• Performs basic nursing care duties such as waived testing (fingerstick glucose, urine dipstick, occult fecal), non-sterile specimen collection, nasogastric tube care, 12-lead EKG, and simple clean non-sterile dressing changes.
• Accurately collects and records data such as height, weight, vital signs, intake and output.
• Competent in the use of portable technology, including handheld wireless devices for measurement and documentation of intake/output, vital signs, and point-of-care testing.
• Reports patient observations and concerns to the Registered Nurse.
• Assists hospital visitors and staff with information needs.
• May utilize wireless devices and technology for coordination of healthcare (e.g., scheduling, documentation, nutrition service ordering).
• May serve as a super user for nursing assistant information technology and/or preceptor for new nursing assistants.
• Maintains supplies and equipment necessary for patient care operations.
• Secures and handles appropriate supplies, medications, and lab specimens transported from/into and within the unit.

Requirements

• High School diploma or GED.
• BLS (Basic Life Support) certification from the American Heart Association.
• CPR certified.
• Basic PC skills required to manage patient information and ensure effective clinical workflows and documentation in the electronic medical record (EMR).

Work Shift: Day
Scheduled Weekly Hours: 36
Department: Cardiovascular Unit 2