What does an observer do?
An observer is responsible for supporting patients' conditions under the health personnel's supervision, ensuring that the medical operations comply with the institution's policies and procedures. Observers must have excellent communication and organization skills, responding to the patients' inquiries and concerns, and performing administrative tasks as required by the management. They also identify possible improvements for clients' safety and security and create reports, manage expenses, and report any complaints to the senior management for immediate resolution.
Observer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real observer resumes:
- Assist in taking patient medical history and managing clinical patients and participate in medical team discussions regarding patient treatment plans.
- Participate in rounding on patients in the ICU and on the floor with the surgical team.
- Identify different gear types and characteristics on bottom trawl, gill-net, longline and clam dredge vessels.
- Observe patients in for cardiology consultation.
- Train in restraint use and CPR.
- Assist nurses and doctors during a CPR event.
- Work on commercial fishing boats in Alaskan waters.
- Assist OHI, ESL, and emotionally disturb children.
- Help a child develop strategies to improve his mathematics during one-on-one sessions.
- Collect, analyze, and incorporate GPS data for fire crews and authorities.
- Extract and collect DNA samples of endanger and other specific species for further research.
- Expose to wide spectrum of cases of geriatrics, psychiatry, pediatrics, and gynecology.
- Create and teach a lesson plan for an intermediate Spanish class and an ESL class.
- Record fishing effort by tallying the buoy and hook number for every organism catch on the longline.
- Recessitate turtles, tag them, take DNA samples, pictures, and release them back unharm.
Observer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 37% of Observers are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and Patient Safety. They’re also known for soft skills such as Good judgment, Observation skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Observers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 37%
Gained an insight into everyday clinical dental management and learned professional communication with patients coming from different cultural backgrounds.
- Patient Care, 19%
Provided direct patient care including treatment planning, implementing plans and evaluating treatment documentation.
- Patient Safety, 13%
Maintained patient safety while aiding individuals with mental and physical disabilities.
- CPR, 6%
Initiate CPR if patient should have a Cardiopulmonary Arrest.
- Patient Behavior, 5%
Managed the safety of incontinent patients and outpatient behavioral patients admitted into a hospital environment.
- Patient History, 2%
Entered patient history in the electronic health system.
Most observers use their skills in "patients," "patient care," and "patient safety" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential observer responsibilities here:
Observation skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling observer duties is observation skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "security guards and surveillance officers must be alert and aware of their surroundings, and be able to quickly recognize anything out of the ordinary." According to an observer resume, here's how observers can utilize observation skills in their job responsibilities: "traveled when necessary to other states to complete data collection/observations. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for observers to perform their duties. For an example of how observer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "security guards and surveillance officers must communicate effectively with others, even in stressful situations." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an observer: "utilize interpersonal and communications expertise to facilitate observer duties and data collectionrequirements with various professionals throughout the vessel crew. ".
The three companies that hire the most observers are:
- Hackensack Meridian Health70 observers jobs
- Tenet Healthcare48 observers jobs
- Northwell Health12 observers jobs
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Compare different observers
Observer vs. Casino enforcement agent
A Surveillance Agent provides security services to thwart off theft, fraud, and other criminal activities. They are in charge of monitoring surveillance cameras to detect suspicious behaviors, patrolling areas, enforcing security protocols such as inspections and identification checks, responding to distress, and investigating incidents. They must also understand the company's security needs, identify vulnerable security areas, and develop strategies to strengthen the security in the establishment. Surveillance Agents must maintain an active communication line with managers and other agents for an efficient workflow.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an observer are more likely to require skills like "patients," "patient care," "patient safety," and "patient behavior." On the other hand, a job as a casino enforcement agent requires skills like "customer satisfaction," "medicaid," "disciplinary actions," and "stackers." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Casino enforcement agents tend to reach lower levels of education than observers. In fact, casino enforcement agents are 9.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 5.0% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Observer vs. Gaming investigator
A surveillance investigator specializes in gathering credible information related to the subject of an investigation. Typically working for private companies or independently, a surveillance investigator's responsibilities revolve around arranging surveillance systems such as cameras and microphones, conducting background checks, interviewing potential witnesses, and looking into illegal activities. It is also vital to gather evidence and upload them into a secured database. Furthermore, there are instances when a surveillance investigator must produce reports about the progress of cases, analyze pieces of evidence, and present findings.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, observer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patients," "patient care," "patient safety," and "cpr." Meanwhile, a gaming investigator has duties that require skills in areas such as "law enforcement," "administrative hearings," "background investigations," and "criminal statutes." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, gaming investigators achieve higher levels of education than observers. They're 5.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 5.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Observer vs. Surveillance agent
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an observer is likely to be skilled in "patients," "patient care," "patient safety," and "cpr," while a typical surveillance agent is skilled in "incident reports," "cctv," "internal controls," and "zoom."
Most surveillance agents achieve a lower degree level compared to observers. For example, they're 6.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 4.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Observer vs. Surveillance investigator
Even though a few skill sets overlap between observers and surveillance investigators, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an observer might have more use for skills like "patients," "patient care," "patient safety," and "cpr." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of surveillance investigators require skills like "surveillance video," "video evidence," "insurance claims," and "conduct surveillance. "
In general, surveillance investigators hold similar degree levels compared to observers. Surveillance investigators are 1.5% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 4.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of observer
Updated January 8, 2025
