Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates

Example job titles

• health care aide
• hospital attendant
• long term care aide
• nurse aide
• nursing attendant
• orderly
• patient care aide
• patient service associate
• personal care attendant - medical
• psychiatric aide
• resident care aide - medical

Main duties

• This group performs some or all of the following duties:
• Answer call signals; supply and empty bed pans; bathe, dress and groom patients; serve meal trays, feed or assist in feeding of patients and assist patients with menu selection; weigh, lift, turn, and position patients; shave patients prior to operations; supervise patients' exercise routines, set up and provide leisure activities for patients, accompany patients on outside recreational activities and perform other duties related to patient care and comfort
• Take patients' blood pressure, temperature and pulse; report or record fluid intake and output; observe or monitor patients' status and document patient care on charts; collect specimens such as urine, faeces or sputum; administer suppositories, colonic irrigations and enemas and perform other procedures as directed by nursing and hospital staff
• Administer, in emergency situations, first aid to injured or ill individuals within the scope of competencies
• 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 such as assisting with the set-up and maintenance of 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.

Employment requirements

• Some secondary school education and on-the-job training or a personal support worker, nursing aide or health care aide college or private institutional program, or a college nursing orderly program and supervised practical training are required.
• Completion of specialized courses such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid is usually required.
• An appropriate class of driver's licence may be required for medical attendants.

Approved positions by year

All work permits by year

New permanent residents by year