Patient Care Technician - Med-Surg * Days - Resource

Patient Care Technician - Med-Surg

Days - Resource

Requisition # : req8450

Shift : Days

FTE status : 0

On-call : No

Weekends : Yes

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 :

• Minimum High School Diploma or GED required.
• Must meet one of the following requirements : Current Certified Nurse Aide (CENA) certification, orCurrent 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, orEquivalent 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.

• Basic understanding of Medical Terminology, Anatomy, Physiology, and Patient Confidentiality is preferred.
• Current Basic Life Support (BLS / CPR) provider required.
• Experience in acute care or extended care facility preferred.
• Able to successfully complete unit-specific core competencies as defined in the orientation check-list.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities :

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.

• HYGIENE : Assist patients with hygiene activities.
• PROCEDURES : Indwelling urinary catheter care (excluding insertion, removal and irrigation); changing non-sterile dressings;

providing ileostomy / colostomy care.

• Assisting with postmortem care.
• NUTRITION : Assist patients with nutrition including passing trays, snacks and drinking water; feeding patients; and measuring and recording intake from dietary trays.
• ELIMINATION : Assist patients with elimination needs recording accurate input and output. Empties other drains as designated by the RN.
• 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.

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.

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.

• 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).

• DOCUMENTATION : Document care given as directed by the RN.
• 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.

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.