Patient Support Assistant - Emergency Department

About This Role

This night-shift role in the Emergency Department involves assisting Registered Nurses in providing direct patient care to multiple patients. It suits a patient support assistant who is dedicated to creating an ideal patient experience through compassionate relationships.

Responsibilities

• Perform and/or assist patients with activities of daily living, such as bathing, grooming, eating, and walking
• Maintain environmental cleanliness and safety of patient rooms, unit, and equipment
• Provide assistance to patients, visitors, and nursing personnel in the assigned unit
• Maintain flexibility to help other departments with patient care as needed
• Assist in creating the ideal patient experience through 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 communicating immediately to available licensed clinician
• May act as a transporter for the nursing unit assigned
• Run errands to either pick up or deliver items for patient care
• Perform other delegable nursing tasks delegated by the Registered Nurse, which can be performed without requiring judgment based on nursing knowledge, have reasonably predictable results, can be performed safely according to exact, unchanging directions, do not require complex observations or critical decisions, do not require assessment, and where the consequences of performing the task improperly are minimal and not life-threatening
• Perform other basic nursing care duties as directed by the RN, including but not limited to 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 collect data such as height, weight, vital signs, intake and output, etc., and record data on the appropriate documentation form
• Be competent in the use of portable technology, using handheld wireless devices for measurement and documentation of intake and output, vital signs, and point-of-care testing such as fingerstick glucoses or urine dipstick
• Report patient observations and concerns to the Registered Nurse
• Assist hospital visitors and staff with information needs
• May utilize wireless devices and technology for coordination of healthcare, such as scheduling, flowchart documentation, and nutrition service ordering
• May serve as a super user for nursing assistant information technology and/or preceptor for new nursing assistants
• Maintain supplies and equipment necessary for patient care operations