What does a health assistant do?
A health assistant is responsible for providing quality care for the patients under the supervision of registered nurses and attending physicians. Health assistants perform basic medical procedures, such as collecting specimens for examinations, checking the patients' conditions, and administering required medications. They also assist health care professionals in conducting complex medical processes by preparing the equipment and ensuring the cleanliness of the operating room. A health assistant keeps an organized record of medical charts for the doctor's reference and may also coordinate with the patient's family for medical updates.
Health assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real health assistant resumes:
- Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
- Review and do compliance of school health records in NYC public schools to ensure adherence to protocols and for quality control.
- Study correlation of high incarceration rates and community health indicators in NYC neighborhoods
- Provide breastfeeding promotion to all WIC women as the preferred infant feeding method.
- Learned how to triage campers during health center hours on a case to case basis.
- Perform diagnostic procedure including but not limit to EKG's, urine dipsticks, etc.
- Support orientation of new staff members, including annual first aid and CPR classes for teachers.
- Work independently, on occasion, and triage students base on severity of injury/illness, administer medications and age appropriate teaching.
- Maintain confidentiality by HIPAA and Medicaid standards.
- Screen clients for income/residency requirements according to WIC program guidelines.
- Fax medical records after receiving complete release of information requests in accordance with HIPAA guidelines.
- Respond appropriately to the physical, emotional and developmental needs of patients by reviewing their recent medicinal and therapeutic history.
- Offer therapeutic services and crises intervention to emotionally disturb older adults and elderly people living in the retirement and rehabilitation home.
- Design a resource manual for Nevada health departments to bill insurance companies, share with other states and the CDC.
- Compile daily, weekly, and monthly statistical TB data of patient's visits to the clinic.
Health assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 18% of Health Assistants are proficient in Patients, CPR, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Technical skills, Analytical skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Health Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 18%
Responded appropriately to the physical, emotional and developmental needs of patients by reviewing their recent medicinal and therapeutic history.
- CPR, 10%
Follow accredited First Aid and CPR procedures and utilize appropriate skills to respond effectively in emergencies.
- Customer Service, 8%
Improved department's visibility and increased corporate relations by overseeing high quality customer service to corporate clients.
- Vital Signs, 5%
Documented medication administration, diet, and vital signs and assured documentation accuracy.
- Mental Health, 5%
Conducted Mental Health Screenings on severely disabled individuals of all ages and disability groups.
- Health Services, 4%
Assist health coordinator in managing, planning and evaluation comprehensive health services in accordance with the Head Start performance standards.
Common skills that a health assistant uses to do their job include "patients," "cpr," and "customer service." You can find details on the most important health assistant responsibilities below.
Technical skills. One of the key soft skills for a health assistant to have is technical skills. You can see how this relates to what health assistants do because "medical assistants should be able to use basic clinical instruments so they can take a patient’s vital signs, such as heart rate and blood pressure." Additionally, a health assistant resume shows how health assistants use technical skills: "performed technical medical tasks (drawing blood, injections, blood pressure, etc. )"
Analytical skills. Many health assistant duties rely on analytical skills. "medical assistants must be able to understand and follow medical charts and diagnoses," so a health assistant will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways health assistant responsibilities rely on analytical skills: "attended to the medical needs of students and staff entered medical data into computer medication administration maintained healthcare immunization records"
Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of health assistants is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday health assistant duties, as "medical assistants need to be precise when taking vital signs or recording patient information." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "trained and oriented two new school health assistants. "
Interpersonal skills. health assistant responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "medical assistants need to be able to discuss patient information with other medical personnel, such as physicians." This resume example shows what health assistants do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "possess excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work in a team environment. "
The three companies that hire the most health assistants are:
- Central City Concern170 health assistants jobs
- Planned Parenthood53 health assistants jobs
- PIH Health12 health assistants jobs
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Compare different health assistants
Health assistant vs. Student medical assistant-externship
Student Medical Assistant Externship is a broad term for catering students for short, reliable, and practical work experience. Once you graduate, you can get a chance to meet contacts that may be useful for your career. You can have a better chance to work in a clinic, hospital, and any medical platform after going through this kind of externship.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a health assistant are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "mental health," "health services," and "school health." On the other hand, a job as a student medical assistant-externship requires skills like "surgery," "urinalysis," "venipuncture," and "appointment scheduling." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, student medical assistant-externships reach similar levels of education than health assistants. Student medical assistant-externships are 1.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Health assistant vs. Health care specialist
Health care specialists are medical professionals working in the health care industry. These medical specialists handle their subordinate corpsmen while maintaining their administrative records during deployment. They work hand in hand with patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's, paralysis, and dementia. It is part of their job to provide nursing care to patients, which may include immunization and medical examination. They need to develop skills and knowledge in patient care, military health care, and routine medical treatment.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real health assistant resumes. While health assistant responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer service," "mental health," "health services," and "school health," health care specialists use skills like "patient care," "inpatient care," "medical readiness," and "lawn care."
In general, health care specialists achieve similar levels of education than health assistants. They're 1.5% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Health assistant vs. Clinical medical assistant
A clinical medical assistant specializes in performing administrative and clinical tasks in a hospital or similar setting. Their responsibilities revolve around gathering a patient's information, medical history, test results, and other essential documentation, and updating patient medical records. Other tasks include reaching out to patients' families and guardians, assisting health workers with room preparation and patient care, and preparing medications and other treatments, all in adherence to a physician's directives. Furthermore, a clinical medical assistant may conduct inspections to ensure that the hospital complies with government regulations.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from health assistant resumes include skills like "mental health," "health services," "school health," and "health education," whereas a clinical medical assistant is more likely to list skills in "patient care," "medical assistants," "patient flow," and "treatment rooms. "
Clinical medical assistants make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $35,264. On the other hand, health assistants are paid the highest salary in the government industry, with average annual pay of $33,876.When it comes to education, clinical medical assistants tend to earn similar degree levels compared to health assistants. In fact, they're 4.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Health assistant vs. Medical assistant externship
Medical assistant externs are medical school students who took the opportunity to get on-the-job training at a medical facility, usually a hospital. They spend a set amount of time in the facility. Medical assistant externs do job shadowing. They join their mentors, who are usually doctors or other health professionals, in their daily activities. Unlike usual on-the-job trainees, medical assistant externs do not really work on administrative activities. Instead, they are given the opportunity to truly be exposed to the actual work in a medical facility. They experience talking to patients and their families, performing basic medical tasks under the supervision of a doctor, and interpreting laboratory results with their mentors.
Types of health assistant
Updated January 8, 2025
