Activities	Care for mentally impaired or emotionally disturbed individuals. They work under a team that may include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, and therapists.
Outlook	Faster-than-average-job growth
Median Income	$24,950 per year in May 2010
Work Context & Conditions	Most full-time aides work about 40 hours a week, but because patients need care 24 hours a day, some aides work evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. Many work part-time. Aides spend many hours standing and walking, mostly indoors, and they often face heavy workloads.
Minimum Education Requirements	General High School Program
Skills	Persuasion, Social Perceptiveness, Learning Strategies, Critical Thinking, Instructing, Active Listening, Writing, Service Orientation, Active Learning, Coordination, Reading Comprehension, Speaking
Abilities	Oral Expression, Speech Recognition, Problem Sensitivity, Speech Clarity, Oral Comprehension

Job Category		Healthcare Support
Job Description		Nursing and psychiatric aides help care for physically or mentally ill, injured, disabled, or infirm individuals confined to hospitals, nursing care facilities, and mental health settings. Home health aides have duties that are similar, but they work in patients’ homes or residential care facilities. Psychiatric aides, also known as mental health assistants or psychiatric nursing assistants, care for mentally impaired or emotionally disturbed individuals. They work under a team that may include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, and therapists. In addition to helping patients to dress, bathe, groom themselves, and eat, psychiatric aides socialize with them and lead them in educational and recreational activities. Psychiatric aides may play games such as cards with the patients, watch television with them, or participate in group activities, such as sports or field trips. They observe patients and report any physical or behavioral signs that might be important for the professional staff to know. They accompany patients to and from examinations and treatment. Because they have such close contact with patients, psychiatric aides can have a great deal of influence on their patients’ outlook and treatment.
Working Conditions		Most full-time aides work about 40 hours a week, but, because patients need care 24 hours a day, some aides work evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. Aides spend many hours standing and walking, and they often face heavy workloads. Aides must guard against back injury because they may have to move patients into and out of bed or help them to stand or walk. Aides also may face hazards from minor infections and major diseases, such as hepatitis, but can avoid infections by following proper procedures. Aides often have unpleasant duties, such as emptying bedpans and changing soiled bed linens. The patients they care for may be disoriented, irritable, or uncooperative. Psychiatric aides must be prepared to care for patients whose illness may cause violent behavior. While their work can be emotionally demanding, many aides gain satisfaction from assisting those in need.
Salary Range		Median annual wages of psychiatric aides were $24,950 per year in 2010. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $17,270, and the top 10 percent earned more than $40,070. Nursing and psychiatric aides in hospitals generally receive at least 1 week of paid vacation after 1 year of service. Paid holidays and sick leave, hospital and medical benefits, extra pay for late-shift work, and pension plans also are available to many hospital employees and to some nursing care facility employees.

Education Required		In many cases, a high school diploma or equivalent is necessary for a job as a nursing or psychiatric aide. Specific qualifications vary by occupation, State laws, and work setting. Advancement opportunities are limited. Some facilities provide classroom instruction for newly hired aides, while others rely exclusively on informal on-the-job instruction from a licensed nurse or an experienced aide. Such training may last several days to a few months. From time to time, aides may also attend lectures, workshops, and in-service training. These occupations can offer individuals an entry into the world of work. The flexibility of night and weekend hours also provides high school and college students a chance to work during the school year. Applicants should be tactful, patient, understanding, healthy, emotionally stable, dependable, and have a desire to help people. They should also be able to work as part of a team, have good communication skills, and be willing to perform repetitive, routine tasks. Opportunities for advancement within these occupations are limited. To enter other health occupations, aides generally need additional formal training. Some employers and unions provide opportunities by simplifying the educational paths to advancement. Experience as an aide can also help individuals decide whether to pursue a career in the healthcare field.
Recommended High School Courses		English, Chemistry
Postsecondary Instructional Programs		Psychology, Education and Training, Therapy and Counseling, Chemistry, Customer and Personal Service, Medicine and Dentistry
Certification and Licensing		None

Interest Area		Social Involves working and communicating with, helping, and teaching people.
Work Values		Social Service Do things for other people. Supervision, Human Relations Supervisors back up their workers with management. Security Have steady employment. Co-workers Have co-workers who are easy to get along with.
Skills		Persuasion Persuade others to approach things differently. Social Perceptiveness Be aware of others' reactions and understand why they react the way they do. Learning Strategies Use multiple approaches when learning or teaching new things. Critical Thinking Use logic and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Instructing Teach others how to do something. Active Listening Listen to what other people are saying and ask questions as appropriate. Writing Communicate effectively with others in writing as indicated by the needs of the audience. Service Orientation Actively look for ways to help people. Active Learning Work with new material or information to grasp its implications. Coordination Adjust actions in relation to others' actions. Reading Comprehension Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. Speaking Talk to others to effectively convey information.
Abilities		Oral Expression Able to convey information and ideas through speech in ways that others will understand. Speech Recognition Identify and understand the speech of another person Problem Sensitivity Able to tell when something is wrong or likely to go wrong. This doesn't involve solving the problem, just recognizing that there is a problem. Speech Clarity Able to speak clearly so listeners understand. Oral Comprehension Able to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Related Jobs		Nurse, Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational, Therapist, Recreational, Therapist, Physical, Technician, Psychiatric, Aide, Personal and Home-Care
Job Outlook		In 2010 psychiatric aides held about 67,700 jobs. Around 39 percent of all psychiatric aides worked in hospitals, primarily in psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals, although some also worked in the psychiatric units of general medical and surgical hospitals. Others were employed in State government agencies; residential mental retardation, mental health, and substance abuse facilities; outpatient care centers; and nursing care facilities. Overall employment of nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides is projected to grow much faster than average for all occupations through the year 2020, although individual occupational growth rates will vary. Home health aides is expected to be the fastest growing occupation, as a result of both growing demand for home services from an aging population and efforts to contain costs by moving patients out of hospitals and nursing care facilities as quickly as possible. Consumer preference for care in the home and improvements in medical technologies for in-home treatment also will contribute to much-faster-than-average employment growth for home health aides. Employment of psychiatric aides—the smallest of the three occupations—is expected to grow more slowly than average for all occupations. Most psychiatric aides currently work in hospitals, but most job growth will be in residential mental health facilities and in home health care agencies. There is a long-term trend toward treating mental health patients outside of hospitals because it is more cost effective and allows patients to live more normal lives. Demand for psychiatric aides in residential facilities will rise in response to growth in the number of older persons—many of whom will require mental health services—but also as an increasing number of mentally disabled adults, who were formerly cared for by their elderly parents, seek care. Job growth also could be affected by changes in government funding of programs for the mentally ill.
More Information		National Association for Home Care, National Association of Health Care Assistants
References		Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition, Psychiatric Technicians and Aides, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/psychiatric-technicians-and-aides.htm. O*NET OnLine, on the Internet at http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/31-1013.00