Patient Care Technician - Observation Unit * Days - 24hrs/wk

Patient Care Technician - Observation Unit

Shift: Days FTE status: 0.6 On-call: No Weekends: Yes

Requisition #: req11238

General Summary

Under the direction of a Registered Nurse (RN), the Patient Care Technician (PCT) provides basic nursing care to patients and performs related tasks necessary to support the unit.

Requirements

1. Minimum High School Diploma or GED required.
2. Must meet one of the following requirements:
   • Current Certified Nurse Aide (CENA) certification, or
   • Current enrollment (and continued progression) in a health science program required with completion of nursing fundamentals course and/or one clinical rotation preferred.
   • Equivalent enrollment considered will include but is not limited to: Nursing School, Pre-PA School, Medical School, or closely related health science program, or
   • Equivalent experience. Equivalent experience considered will include but is not limited to: Medical Assistant, Paramedic, Medical First Responder, EMT, Nurse Tech, Resident Aid/Assistant, or LPN.
3. Basic understanding of Medical Terminology, Anatomy, Physiology, and Patient Confidentiality is preferred.
4. Current Basic Life Support (BLS/CPR) provider required.
5. Experience in acute care or extended care facility preferred.
6. Able to successfully complete unit-specific core competencies as defined in the orientation check-list.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

1. ACTIVITY / COMFORT: Assist patients with activity of daily living and provides for patient comfort. This responsibility includes making occupied and unoccupied beds; turning and positioning patients in bed; ambulating and dangling patients; transfers patients; performs passive and assisting with active range-of-motion exercises.
2. HYGIENE: Assist patients with hygiene activities.
3. PROCEDURES: Indwelling urinary catheter care (excluding insertion, removal and irrigation); changing non-sterile dressings; providing ileostomy/colostomy care.
4. Assisting with postmortem care.
5. NUTRITION: Assist patients with nutrition including passing trays, snacks and drinking water; feeding patients; and measuring and recording intake from dietary trays.
6. ELIMINATION: Assist patients with elimination needs recording accurate input and output. Empties other drains as designated by the RN.
7. SPECIMEN COLLECTION: Collects and labels sputum, urine, and stool specimens for laboratory testing; testing urine for sugar, acetone, blood or pH; straining urine for kidney stones; and using the glucometer to test blood glucose levels.
8. VITAL SIGNS / MEASUREMENT: Measures and record accurate vital signs and weight including oral and tympanic temperature, radial and apical pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate; and using standing, chair, sling and bed scales to measure weight.
9. EQUIPMENT: Uses equipment and supplies safely and appropriately. This includes assisting patients with incentive spirometry; setting up oxygen flow meters; setting up suction equipment and disposing of suction canisters; and applying and removing ice bags, moist or dry heat, ace bandages, arm slings, binders, supports, anti-embolism stockings, sequential compression devices (SCDs), restraints.
10. INFECTION CONTROL: Assists with controlling the spread of infection by using aseptic technique; adhering to universal/standard precautions; caring appropriately for patients with special isolation precautions; passing clean linen and bagging and disposing of soiled linen; replacing full sharps containers; cleaning equipment between patients' use; and cleaning equipment prior to return to Central Processing Department (CPD).
11. DOCUMENTATION: Document care given as directed by the RN.
12. COMMUNICATION: Communicates effectively using Vocera, unit paging system, telephone system and pneumatic tube system; answering patient call lights; reporting observations to the RN; keeping the RN informed of care delivered; maintaining patient confidentiality.
13. Performs other duties as assigned. These may include but are not limited to: Performing tasks assigned by the Registered Nurse in charge to facilitate department efficiency. Maintaining a current knowledge base of department processes and procedures for patient care, pursuing self-directed learning and continuing education opportunities, and participating on committees, task forces, and work groups as determined by management.