A Day in the Life of a Patient Attendant: Understanding Their Duties and Responsibilities
Patient attendants, also known as healthcare assistants, caregivers or caretakers, offer care and support to patients in homes, hospitals and other healthcare facilities. They closely coordinate with patient support supervisors and nurses to take good care of the elderly, the chronically sick and the disabled. Perfectly trained and duly certified, these healthcare professionals may also be included in the category of home health aides, nurse’s aides, hospital attendants and geriatric aides. Read on to learn what a day in the life of a patient attendant looks like.
A Day in the Life of a Patient Attendant
Every day in the life of a patient attendant brings new challenges and experiences. They need to cover wide-ranging tasks because every patient has varied requirements and demands. One day, they might be preparing meals for their patients, and on another, they may offer direct physical support through activities such as using the toilet, bathing, and dressing. Besides attending to patients, the everyday duty of a patient attendant entails ensuring a clean and safe workplace so the patient feels comfortable and well cared for when receiving medical treatment. The regular responsibility of a patient attendant also involves ensuring all supplies are in place before starting work so they can administer care immediately. Other common patient attendant duties in a day include:
- Bathing, dressing, grooming and hygiene
- Helping the patient with bowel and bladder elimination
- Oral care
- Incontinence care
- Helping with movements and ambulation
- Checking vitals, like blood pressure, temperature, pulse, oxygen saturation and respiration.
- Assisting in feeding and hydration
- Administering oral medicines as advised by the doctor, family or primary caregiver.
- Escorting the patient to doctor’s appointments
- Encouraging socialisation
- Keeping the patient company
- Putting clothes away for washing and soaking them in disinfectant if the patient has soiled them
- Helping with hobbies and social activities
- Maintaining a sympathetic attitude towards the patient
- Preparing light meals, such as porridge or mashed feed, preparing coffee or tea and cutting fruits for the patient.
- Changing the patient’s position to avoid bed sores.
Besides these common everyday activities, patient attendants may:
- Perform safety checks
- Obtain urine, stool and blood samples and deliver them to the lab.
- Communicate changes in the patient’s health status to a registered nurse or other members of the medical team.
- Conduct medical tests, like finger-stick blood sugar and record results.
- Communicate patient needs through effective channels.
- Train and help patients in using medical equipment as needed.
- Perform replenishment tasks.
- As required by the medical personnel or nurse, they may gather and deliver critical medical supplies, x-ray reports, tests and medicines.
- Encourage physical therapy activities
These are some of the most common duties and job responsibilities of a patient attendant. Our patient attendants work directly with their patients, impacting their lives positively. Chosen through complete profile analysis and verification and deployed on trial before being finalised, our patient technicians are duly screened for qualities like integrity, honesty, sincerity, sensitivity and accountability.
Download our app now to arrange for professional patient attendants from the convenience of your home. You can also use our app to monitor your patient’s health status, book lab tests online and consult with experts.
Benefits of Availing the Services of a Patient Attendant
Some exclusive benefits of availing the services of a patient attendant include:
- Patient receives the care required.
- Patient security
- Improved patient comfort
- Patients under the supervision of healthcare attendants have better medical reports
- Personalised care for the patient
- Early diagnosis of medical issues
How to Choose the Best Patient Care Attendants?
Look for qualified and certified patient care attendants with the following skills:
- Attention to detail
- Listening
- Compassion
- Experience
- Communication
- Empathy
- Observation
- Expertise
- Patience
- Trustworthiness
- Professionalism
- Time management
Ensure that patient attendant:
- Has a detailed understanding of diseases, procedures and medical terminology.
- Has the potential to work independently without supervision.
- Is aware of basic CPR and first aid procedures and is duly trained to administer the same if required.
- Has a personal interest in the patient’s health and well-being.
- Always places the patient’s requirements above everything else.
- Has good stamina and physical strength to offer strong support to the patient.
Above all, respect, confidentiality, and dignity are the cornerstones of being a reliable patient attendant. You can find all these skills in our patient attendants, an elderly care service provider known for quality care and affordable support services. Our professionals will visit you personally and offer a care package that best suits your requirements. On approval, the care package will be executed under an expert’s supervision. Contact us now for more details.
LEAVE US A MESSAGE
Dr. Prateek Bhardwaj is the COO of Vesta Elder Care. a physiotherapist by profession and Prateek joined the Vesta team at its time of inception. His years of experience have enriched Vesta to become a service-oriented organization and have guided the team through its many milestones