How To Become A Psychiatric Nursing Aide: What It Is and Career Path

What is a psychiatric nursing aide and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a psychiatric nursing aide. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.34 an hour? That's $31,909 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 16,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePsychiatric Nursing AideUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $31,909

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.5

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.57%

Asian 4.59%

Black or African American 27.26%

Hispanic or Latino 15.35%

Unknown 4.16%

White 48.06%

Gender

female 65.71%

male 34.29%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

9.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.4

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a psychiatric nursing aide

Explore psychiatric nursing aide education requirements

Most common psychiatric nursing aide degrees

Bachelor's

30.9 %

Associate

27.3 %

High School Diploma

23.6 %

Start to develop specific psychiatric nursing aide skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	48.54%
Vital Signs	17.23%
ADL	7.31%
Direct Patient Care	6.79%
CPR	4.08%

Complete relevant psychiatric nursing aide training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New psychiatric nursing aides learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a psychiatric nursing aide based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real psychiatric nursing aide resumes.

Research psychiatric nursing aide duties and responsibilities

Perform CPR and maintain safety as needed.
Conduct bed assignments for all incoming patients and distribute necessary materials to facilitate their stay.
Assist residents who have been diagnose with autism, intellectual/developmental disabilities and acquire brain injury with daily activities.
Distribute medication in accordance to QMA guidelines.

Prepare your psychiatric nursing aide resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your psychiatric nursing aide resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a psychiatric nursing aide resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable psychiatric nursing aide resume templates

Build a professional psychiatric nursing aide resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your psychiatric nursing aide resume.