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How to hire a patient care assistant

Patient care assistant hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring patient care assistants in the United States:

  • HR departments typically spend 15% of their expenses on recruitment.
  • It usually takes about 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
  • It typically takes 36-42 days to fill a job opening.
  • The median cost to hire a patient care assistant is $1,633.
  • Small businesses spend an average of $1,105 per patient care assistant on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
  • There are currently 175,879 patient care assistants in the US and 261,345 job openings.
  • New York, NY, has the highest demand for patient care assistants, with 160 job openings.
  • Houston, TX has the highest concentration of patient care assistants.

How to hire a patient care assistant, step by step

To hire a patient care assistant, you should create an ideal candidate profile, determine a budget, and post and promote your job. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a patient care assistant:

Here's a step-by-step patient care assistant hiring guide:

  • Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
  • Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
  • Step 3: Make a budget
  • Step 4: Write a patient care assistant job description
  • Step 5: Post your job
  • Step 6: Interview candidates
  • Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new patient care assistant
  • Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a patient care assistant do?

A patient care assistant is responsible for attending patients' needs with the supervision of a health care professional. Duties of a patient care assistant also include performing basic medical tasks such as taking patients' temperature, monitoring food intake, preparing medicines, recording health conditions, assisting on lab tests and other medical procedures, and providing information and important updates to the patient's family. A patient care assistant must have excellent time-management and multi-tasking skills to perform duties efficiently and accurately.

Learn more about the specifics of what a patient care assistant does
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    The patient care assistant hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

    Determine employee vs contractor status
    Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

    Hiring the perfect patient care assistant also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

    Here's a comparison of patient care assistant salaries for various roles:

    Type of Patient Care AssistantDescriptionHourly rate
    Patient Care AssistantNursing assistants, sometimes called nursing aides, help provide basic care for patients in hospitals and residents of long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes. Orderlies transport patients and clean treatment areas... Show more$11-21
    Nurse TechnicianNurse technicians, also known as nursing aides, assistants, or attendants, usually work in clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes. Primarily, they help a registered nurse by providing essential mobility, care, and support to patients... Show more$12-19
    Care ProviderA care provider is responsible for assisting patients with their healthcare needs at the highest quality service. Care providers work in various medical organizations or are privately employed by a household... Show more$8-24
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • Patients
    • Vital Signs
    • PCA
    • CPR
    • Home Health
    • Customer Service
    • Direct Patient Care
    • Direct Supervision
    • EKG
    • Catheter
    • Patient Safety
    • Phlebotomy
    • Electrocardiogram
    • Excellent Organizational
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Conduct and facilitate PCA lead group activities as scheduled
    • Assist patients in achieving independence and increase functional ability.
    • Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
    • Answer call lights, vital signs, EKG'S, transporting patients to other areas, keep rooms clean and orderly.
    • Provide high quality patient care as an in-demand per-diem RCA within, home-healthcare, nursing home settings and memory support care.
    • Work extensively with Alzheimer and dementia patients.
    More patient care assistant duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in your patient care assistant job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A patient care assistant salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

    For example, the average salary for a patient care assistant in Georgia may be lower than in Hawaii, and an entry-level patient care assistant usually earns less than a senior-level patient care assistant. Additionally, a patient care assistant with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

    Average patient care assistant salary

    $15.77hourly

    $32,799 yearly

    Entry-level patient care assistant salary
    $23,000 yearly salary
    Updated January 19, 2026

    Average patient care assistant salary by state

    RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
    1California$35,323$17
    2New York$35,170$17
    3Massachusetts$34,917$17
    4Minnesota$34,668$17
    5Wisconsin$34,086$16
    6Arizona$33,868$16
    7Michigan$32,224$15
    8Connecticut$32,090$15
    9Pennsylvania$30,967$15
    10Ohio$30,542$15
    11Indiana$28,808$14
    12Missouri$28,510$14
    13Virginia$26,519$13
    14Tennessee$25,385$12
    15Alabama$25,214$12
    16Florida$23,941$12
    17Georgia$23,421$11
    18Texas$23,286$11
    19North Carolina$23,222$11

    Average patient care assistant salary by company

    RankCompanyAverage salaryHourly rateJob openings
    1Microsoft$67,828$32.61
    2Colgate University$55,127$26.507
    3CCC$48,204$23.18
    4Civil & Environmental Consultants$47,011$22.60
    5Oracle$46,296$22.26
    6Brigham and Women's Hospital$44,840$21.56162
    7Mount Auburn Hospital$42,977$20.66
    8Highland General Hospital$42,329$20.35
    9Alameda Health System$41,439$19.928
    10Massachusetts General Hospital$41,193$19.80
    11UMass Memorial Health$41,000$19.7156
    12Valley Presbyterian Hospital$40,402$19.422
    13CARE$39,037$18.7796
    14Catholic Health East$38,999$18.7510
    15Medical Billing$38,869$18.69
    16Kisco Senior Living$38,698$18.6025
    17Monarch Healthcare$38,639$18.5846
    18Emory University$38,180$18.3677
    19Credit Suisse$37,988$18.26
    20Path Medical$37,565$18.06
  4. Writing a patient care assistant job description

    A good patient care assistant job description should include a few things:

    • Summary of the role
    • List of responsibilities
    • Required skills and experience

    Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a patient care assistant job description:

    Patient care assistant job description example

    US-OR-Portland

    Type: Part Time - Benefitted
    Good Samaritan Medical Ctr campus

    Overview

    Patients feel comfortable seeking your advice on meals and snacks. You have a keen understanding of their dietary restrictions and how to choose the best food options. Your caring and competent nature fits well with the Legacy mission of making life better for others.

    As a natural "people person," the Patient Dining Assistant communicates with patients in-person or via phone to help them place their meal orders based on dietary restrictions. As a valuable member of the food and nutrition team, the Patient Dining Assistant accurately inputs menu selections, responds to requests from nursing units and makes sure that patients' meals are consistent with their diet orders.

    Provides excellent customer service, acting as the Nutrition Services "greeter" who directly communicates with patients by telephone or in person. Serves meals to patients in a professional, efficient manner; instructs patients on meal ordering system; assists patients in placing meal orders; assesses the patients capabilities to utilize the meal order system; completes calorie counts - recording patient intake; clearly communicates diet order restrictions to patient; participates as part of the food and nutrition team - with nurses, dietitians, and other staff. Takes patients' orders, menu choices for their meals or snacks. Accurately inputs menu selections, prints, meal tickets, responds to printed requests from nursing units, assuring patient choices are consistent with their diet orders.



    Responsibilities

    Answers telephone calls from patients, nursing staff, and others.

    Enters patient menu selections and other patient information into computer system accurately and in a timely manner demonstrating computer literacy.

    Responds to telephone and printer generated meal choices and inquiries utilizing established scripts as applicable.

    Verifies diet orders and confirms that patient requests are appropriate for the specified diet order; delivers appropriate menu for diet order.

    Assures all call center processes are performed smoothly and on schedule - including generating/distributing reports from Computrition/Electronic Health Record, meeting benchmark standards for length of calls, etc.

    Serves meals and between-meal nourishments to patients in a professional and efficient manner.

    Assists patients and/or family members in placing meal orders utilizing established scripts; assesses patient's ability to utilize the meal order system and follows up with the appropriate staff member if unable to participate.

    Processes diet requisitions retrieved from nursing stations and coordinates additional call center processes between nursing units and production.

    Orders and replenishes floor stock items on nursing units.

    Retrieves completed meals from patients' rooms in a timely manner and records nutrient intake from meals.

    Communicates with members of other Food and Nutrition Department and other departments effectively and concisely regarding patient support concerns/issues, requests, and other special circumstances; acts as a Food and Nutrition Department liaison.

    Portions food items in proper containers utilizing proper portion sizes.

    Anticipates patient/team member needs and services them; when conflicts/concerns arise, he/she takes ownership of the problem and ensures a positive resolution. Participates in departmental quality improvement activities.

    Serves as a quality assurance control point for every aspect of the room service program.

    Performs other duties as requested/assigned.



    Qualifications

    E ducation:

    High school diploma or equivalent preferred.

    Experience in customer service environment, and computer operations required.

    Experience in high volume call center, and food service operations with knowledge of therapeutic diets preferred.

    Skills:

    Knowledge of specialized diets, hospital processes, medical terminology, along with emergency codes and responses are essential for this position.

    Experienced in use of computers, with focus on data input, production reports/tallies.

    Ability to work efficiently without direct supervision; time management skills are essential.

    Ability to manage high call volumes - to courteously receive patient phone calls, process the information and accurately enter into computer system.

    Demonstrates the ability to speak clearly and be easily understood in a positive and professional manner.

    Ability to complete all conversations in a positive and helpful manner while meeting time management expectations.

    Ability to understand and determine patient requests when language or communication style may be difficult to understand or other patient complications exist.

    Ability to triage and manage requests to ensure that customer service and essential job functions are always maintained.

    Ability to understand, operate and problem solve office equipment issues.

    Ability to interact effectively with hospital and department computer software programs.

    Ability to understand and utilize patient nutrition related information.

    Ability to successfully negotiate patient meal choices during phone interactions.

    Legacy's Values in Action:

    Follows guidelines set forth in the Legacy's Value in Action.

    Equal Opportunity Employer/Vet/Disabled



    PI

  5. Post your job

    To find the right patient care assistant for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

    • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
    • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with patient care assistants they would recommend.
    • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit patient care assistants who meet your education requirements.
    • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.
    Post your job online:
    • Post your patient care assistant job on Zippia to find and recruit patient care assistant candidates who meet your exact specifications.
    • Use field-specific websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
    • Post a job on free websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    Recruiting patient care assistants requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

    It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

    The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

  7. Send a job offer and onboard your new patient care assistant

    Once you've found the patient care assistant candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

    It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

    Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new patient care assistant. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

  8. Go through the hiring process checklist

    • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
    • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
    • Define job responsibilities and requirements
    • Establish budget and timeline
    • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
    • Write job description
    • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
    • Promote the job internally
    • Process applications through applicant tracking system
    • Review resumes and cover letters
    • Shortlist candidates for screening
    • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
    • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
    • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
    • Conduct background checks on top candidates
    • Check references of top candidates
    • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
    • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
    • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
    • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
    • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
    • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a patient care assistant?

Hiring a patient care assistant comes with both the one-time cost per hire and ongoing costs. The cost of recruiting patient care assistants involves promoting the job and spending time conducting interviews. Ongoing costs include employee salary, training, benefits, insurance, and equipment. It is essential to consider the cost of patient care assistant recruiting as well the ongoing costs of maintaining the new employee.

Patient care assistants earn a median yearly salary is $32,799 a year in the US. However, if you're looking to find patient care assistants for hire on a contract or per-project basis, hourly rates typically range between $11 and $21.

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