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Psychiatric assistant skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted expert
Sepideh Soheilian Ph.D.
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical psychiatric assistant skills. We ranked the top skills for psychiatric assistants based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 42.0% of psychiatric assistant resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a psychiatric assistant needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 psychiatric assistant skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how psychiatric assistants use patients:
  • Provide mentally impaired or emotionally disturbed patients with emotional or psychological care under the direction of nursing and medical staff.
  • Provided routine resident care and programming for mentally impaired or emotionally disturbed patients.

2. Vital Signs

Vital signs are a set of values indicating different body systems' performance. They are measurements of the body's most basic functions. The four major vital signs used in medicine to assess a patient are body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure.

Here's how psychiatric assistants use vital signs:
  • Job duties include ADL's finger sticks, vital signs, documentation and reporting of patient's symptoms or ills.
  • Worked with the 45 clients in their activities of daily living additionally taking their daily vital signs and weights.

3. Mental Health

Mental health is the state of wellbeing in which an individual can cope with the regular stresses and tensions of life, and can work productively without having any emotional or psychological breakdown. Mental health is essential for a person of any age and helps them make the right decisions in their life.

Here's how psychiatric assistants use mental health:
  • Work as part of a team that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, teachers, and mental health counselors.
  • Specialized in a mental health area such as childhood depression, abuse or ADHD.

4. Therapeutic Environment

Here's how psychiatric assistants use therapeutic environment:
  • Intervene In crisis situation to decrease panic and maintain a safe, therapeutic environment; supervised and trained new personnel.
  • Helped maintain a safe and therapeutic environment on the Adult and Child/Adolescent Inpatient Units through the following:.

5. Direct Patient Care

Here's how psychiatric assistants use direct patient care:
  • Direct patient care and hospital computer database experience.
  • Provided direct patient care, performed delegated data collecting, treatment and procedures in accordance with standards.

6. CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a medical procedure that involves chest compression to help a patient breathe. This artificial ventilation helps in keeping the brain function in place and regulates blood throughout the body. CPR is a lifesaving procedure that is used in emergencies.

Here's how psychiatric assistants use cpr:
  • Maintain certifications for CPR, First Aide, and AED.
  • Trained in restraints and CPR certified.

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7. Patient Behavior

Patient behavior is frequently described as disturbing behavior as they have an altered mental stage. They might live in a conceived state of fear and anxiety and have modification of lifestyle if suffering from a chronic illness.

Here's how psychiatric assistants use patient behavior:
  • Monitor and chart patient behavior using specific and descriptive terms accurately.
  • Monitored and charted patient behavior.

8. Medication Management

Here's how psychiatric assistants use medication management:
  • Conducted psychiatric evaluations and executed medication management for both inpatient and outpatient facilities.
  • Maintained clients' progress reports and clinical documentation, and performed medication management.

9. Mental Illness

Here's how psychiatric assistants use mental illness:
  • Provided basic nursing care in a private-run behavioral locked facility to individuals with mental illness, from school-aged children to adults.
  • Experience working with adults and adolescents with a variety of mental illnesses, substance abuse issues, and behavioral disorders.

10. Patient Safety

Here's how psychiatric assistants use patient safety:
  • Maintained patient safety and confidentiality.
  • Monitored patient safety in 30 minute intervals to ensure a safe and protective patient environment to promote involvement.

11. Behavior Problems

Here's how psychiatric assistants use behavior problems:
  • Help children who have mental and behavior problems live a more safe and productive life.

12. Patient Treatment

Here's how psychiatric assistants use patient treatment:
  • Participated in patient treatment planning and implementation under the direction of nursing staff and other professional staff involved in patient care.

13. Crisis Situations

Here's how psychiatric assistants use crisis situations:
  • Help Manage crisis situations effectively using positive approaches.
  • Provided emotional support, coaching and mentored others through crisis situations.

14. Substance Abuse

Here's how psychiatric assistants use substance abuse:
  • Provided Psych-Social groups such as relapse prevention, anger management and substance abuse.
  • Counseled youths, aged 5-17 and provide services to mentally ill, substance abuse, and HIV population.

15. Medical Charts

Here's how psychiatric assistants use medical charts:
  • Make necessary documentation in the medical chart during the shift and prepare professional monthly report on a monthly basis.
  • Make necessary documentation in the medical chart.
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What skills help Psychiatric Assistants find jobs?

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What psychiatric assistant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Sepideh Soheilian Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Baltimore

If a recent college graduate decides to take a gap year between their undergraduate studies and starting a master's program in Counseling Psychology, my advice would be to try their best to be exposed to or engage in either 1) experiences in the field of mental health, or 2) experiences that will strengthen their social science research skills. Engaging in these types of experiences such as working as an administrative assistant in a private practice, or volunteering on a psychiatric unit at a hospital will provide greater exposure to the field of mental health and hopefully, help the graduate determine if entering the mental health field would be the right fit for their career expectations, goals, and values.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about psychiatric assistant

List of psychiatric assistant skills to add to your resume

Psychiatric assistant skills

The most important skills for a psychiatric assistant resume and required skills for a psychiatric assistant to have include:

  • Patients
  • Vital Signs
  • Mental Health
  • Therapeutic Environment
  • Direct Patient Care
  • CPR
  • Patient Behavior
  • Medication Management
  • Mental Illness
  • Patient Safety
  • Behavior Problems
  • Patient Treatment
  • Crisis Situations
  • Substance Abuse
  • Medical Charts
  • ADL
  • Treatment Programs
  • Eating Disorders
  • Group Therapy Sessions
  • Patient Participation
  • Behavior Modification Programs
  • Blood Pressure
  • Behavioral Issues
  • EKG
  • Therapeutic Crisis Intervention
  • Hippa
  • Hospital Policies
  • Direct Supervision
  • Emotional Support
  • Patient Charts
  • Administrative Tasks
  • Patient Care
  • Physical Checks
  • Inappropriate Behavior
  • Physical Means
  • Behavior Changes
  • Mental Disabilities

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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