Psychiatric Aides

• Listen and provide emotional support and encouragement to psychiatric patients.
• Complete physical checks and monitor patients to detect unusual or harmful behavior and report observations to professional staff.
• Restrain or aid patients as necessary to prevent injury.
• Serve meals or feed patients needing assistance or persuasion.
• Work as part of a team that may include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, or social workers.
• Clean and disinfect rooms and furnishings to maintain a safe and orderly environment.
• Provide mentally impaired or emotionally disturbed patients with routine physical, emotional, psychological, or rehabilitation care under the direction of nursing or medical staff.
• Maintain patients' restrictions to assigned areas.
• Provide patients with assistance in bathing, dressing, or grooming, demonstrating these skills as necessary.
• Aid patients in becoming accustomed to hospital routine.
• Organize, supervise, or encourage patient participation in social, educational, or recreational activities.
• Perform nursing duties, such as administering medications, measuring vital signs, collecting specimens, or drawing blood samples.
• Accompany patients to and from wards for medical or dental treatments, shopping trips, or religious or recreational events.
• Participate in recreational activities with patients, including card games, sports, or television viewing.

Source: O*NET OnLine information for Psychiatric Aides.

• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

Source: O*NET OnLine information for Psychiatric Aides.