Health care assistants

Health care assistants provide direct personal care and assistance with activities of daily living to patients and residents in a variety of health care settings such as hospitals, clinics, and residential nursing care facilities. They generally work in implementation of established care plans and practices, and under the direct supervision of medical, nursing or other health professionals or associate professionals.

Tasks and duties

• Providing care, support and treatment to patients and residents of medical, rehabilitative and residential care facilities according to treatment plans established by medical, nursing and other health professionals
• Assisting patients with personal and therapeutic care needs such as personal hygiene, feeding, dressing, physical mobility and exercise, communication, taking oral medications and changing dressings
• Positioning, lifting and turning patients and transporting them in wheelchairs or on movable beds
• Maintaining patients' environmental hygiene standards, such as cleaning patient rooms and changing bed linen
• Providing massage and other non-pharmacological pain relief measures, such as during pregnancy and labour
• Observing patients’ condition, responses and behaviour and reporting changes to a health professional