Job Description

Nursing assistants provide hands-on care and perform routine tasks for patients in long-term care facilities (assisted living, adult family homes and nursing/rehabilitation centers), under the supervision of nursing and medical staff.

Nursing assistants help patients with eating, dressing, bathing and toileting. They clean rooms, change linens, reposition patients, help them in and out of bed, and escort them to operating and examining rooms. Nursing assistants perform clinical tasks such as range of motion exercises, blood pressure readings, massage and collection of specimens. They observe patient conditions, measure and record food and liquid intake/output and vital signs, and report changes to professional staff.

A nursing assistant must be in good health, emotionally stable, tactful and patient, dependable, want to work with and help people, and have good communication and team skills.