PATIENT CARE ASSISTANT - Covenant Health

Patient Care Assistant, Complex Medical Unit

PRN/OCC, Hours vary, Day shift

Parkwest Overview:

Parkwest is West Knoxville’s premier medical facility and a top-performing heart hospital. In addition to providing the area’s leading cardiac services, Parkwest has been nationally recognized for award-winning care throughout our facility. Annually Parkwest is recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of Tennessee's “Top 10” hospitals.

4 Riverstone, Complex Medical Unit:

As a caregiver in Parkwest Medical Center’s Complex Medical Unit, 4 Riverstone, you will meet daily challenges of caring for patients with a wide array of medical conditions. These subspecialties include neurology, nephrology, hepatology, immunology, infectious disease, endocrinology, gastroenterology, psychiatry, and geriatrics. Nurses on 4 Riverstone have a unique opportunity to work within a collaborative framework with interdisciplinary team. Patients often have multiple diagnoses including, but not limited to, pneumonia, COPD, CHF, acute and chronic renal failure, cellulitis, gastrointestinal bleeds, acute and chronic liver failure, and other generalized medical conditions. Discharge planning is an important component of the patient’s care; nurses collaborate daily with case managers, social workers, pharmacists, and therapists to develop individual patient care plans. 4 Riverstone provides a professional and stimulating environment where critical thinking, problem solving, and teamwork is both nurtured and expected.

Staff members include RN’s, LPN’s, Certified Nurse Assistants, Patient Care Assistants, and Health Unit Coordinators who work together to provide exceptional patient care. Our department is high energy, team orientated, and customer satisfaction is a high priority. We currently use a self-scheduling module that covers a six-week period. Staff work three 12-hour shifts per week with every other weekend rotation. We have a supportive environment and orientation is tailored to you needs.

If you are team minded and enjoy a variety of medical conditions, then our Complex Medical Unit is a place to call home.

Position Summary:

Functions as a direct patient caregiver performing tasks to assist registered nurses. Performs hands-on care, assistance with ADL’s and specified technical tasks for a group of patients under the supervision of the Team Leader.

Recruiter: Jason Shubert || jshuber1@covhlth.com || 865-374-5393

• Take and record temperature, pulse, respiration rates, blood pressures, weights, heights, and intake-output measurements.
• Encourage patients to turn, cough, and take deep breaths and to use incentive spirometry as specified by Plan of Care.
• Ambulate, and assist patients in and out of bed, into wheelchairs and transport when necessary.
• Attends to nutritional needs of patient which may include distributing meal trays, feeding, filling and passing out water pitchers,
• Provides morning or evening care, which may include bed bath, oral hygiene, combing hair, back care, dressing patient, changing bed linen, cleaning over-bed table and bedside stand, straightening room, and other supportive care as needed.
• Empty drains, canisters, urine bags, bedpans and emesis basins and record intake and output.
• Assists in maintaining a safe environment, which may include reporting equipment that is out of order, appropriate handling of linen and storing of supplies.
• Provides general care such as positioning, lifting or turning patients; assisting in use of bedpan, urinal or commode; preoperative supportive care; and application/removal of abdominal binders or anti-embolism stockings and sequential compression devices.
• Empty & clean ostomy bag, per procedure.
• Collect urine, stool and sputum specimen as ordered.
• Perform tasks such as ROM, assist with ambulatory devices as specified by the patients' plan of care.
• Perform phlebotomy (requires additional training). To include correct labeling using two patient identifiers, maintenance of lab-draw supplies, rotating and restocking.
• Perform EKG (requires special training).
• Promptly answer patient call lights and respond to patient requests.
• Report significant changes in patients' condition to RN.
• Help to maintain clean and orderly patient and work environment.
• Employ all established infection control policies including standard precautions, transmission-based isolation precautions, OSHA standards, safety measures and proper body mechanics in performance of job.
• Document/maintain patient record as appropriate.
• Gathers equipment for O2 set up. Checks O2 for connection and proper placement.
• Checks for proper functioning of equipment at patient bedside
• Ambulate patients with oxygen.
• Set up suction equipment and check for proper function.
• Demonstrates knowledge and competency in providing for age-specific needs of the population served.
• Demonstrates ability to perform skills on the Nursing Assistant checklist.
• Follows policies, procedures, and safety standards. Completes required education assignments annually. Works toward achieving goals and objectives, and participates in quality improvement initiatives as requested.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Education:

None specified; will accept any combination of formal education and/or prior work experience sufficient to demonstrate possession of the knowledge, skill and ability needed to perform the essential tasks of the job, typically such as would be equivalent to a high school diploma or GED. Preference may be given to individuals possessing a HS diploma or GED.

Minimum Experience:

Hospital experience preferred. Medical terminology a plus. Must be able to operate computer and possess excellent interpersonal skills. Must be able to read with comprehension, write legibly, and perform basic arithmetic computation. 

Licensure Requirement:

CPR required