Careers > Psychiatric Aides

Psychiatric Aides

$37.16K Median Salary 7.2K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 7.4% Job Growth

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About This Career

Assist mentally impaired or emotionally disturbed patients, working under direction of nursing and medical staff. May assist with daily living activities, lead patients in educational and recreational activities, or accompany patients to and from examinations and treatments. May restrain violent patients. Includes psychiatric orderlies.

Reported Job Titles

Developmental Aide, Mental Health Aide (MHA), Mental Health Worker (MHW), Psychiatric Aide, Psychiatric Assistant, Psychiatric Nursing Aide, Qualified Medication Aide (QMA), Resident Care Technician (Resident Care Tech), Residential Care Tech (Residential Care Technician), Therapeutic Program Worker (TPW)

Career data shown for:

Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Oral Expression

Oral Comprehension

Problem Sensitivity

Written Comprehension

Deductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning

Speech Clarity

Speech Recognition

Information Ordering

Far Vision

Near Vision

Selective Attention

Written Expression

Auditory Attention

Category Flexibility

Flexibility of Closure

Perceptual Speed

Trunk Strength

Knowledge

Psychology

Customer and Personal Service

English Language

Therapy and Counseling

Administrative

Sociology and Anthropology

Skills

Service Orientation

Social Perceptiveness

Speaking

Active Listening

Monitoring

Critical Thinking

Active Learning

Coordination

Complex Problem Solving

Instructing

Judgment and Decision Making

Reading Comprehension

Writing

Negotiation

Persuasion

Technology Skills

Spreadsheet software

Presentation software

Electronic mail software

Medical software

Office suite software

Operating system software

Word processing software

Tools

Electronic medical thermometers

Clinical hydraulic lifts

Electronic blood pressure units

Medical or surgical suction or vacuum appliances

Razors

Enema kits

Vacuum blood collection tubes or containers

Special purpose telephones

Patient stabilization or fall prevention devices

Medical oxygen masks or parts

Specimen collection container

Wheelchairs

Two way radios

Bedpans

Blood collection syringes

Desktop computers

Personal computers

Urinalysis test strips

Abilities

Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.

Knowledge

Psychology: Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Therapy and Counseling: Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Administrative: Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Sociology and Anthropology: Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

Skills

Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

Technology Skills

Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Medical software: Henry Schein Dentrix; Medical condition coding software; Medical procedure coding software; MEDITECH software
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Operating system software: Microsoft Windows
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word

Tools

Electronic medical thermometers: Electronic patient thermometers; Oral thermometers; Rectal thermometers; Tympanic thermometers
Clinical hydraulic lifts: Hydraulic lifts
Electronic blood pressure units:
Medical or surgical suction or vacuum appliances: Nasal suctioning equipment; Oral suctioning equipment; Tracheal suctioning equipment
Razors: Safety razors
Enema kits: Enema equipment
Vacuum blood collection tubes or containers: Evacuated blood collection tubes
Special purpose telephones: Multi-line telephone systems
Patient stabilization or fall prevention devices: Protective patient restraints
Medical oxygen masks or parts: Infant oxygen masks; Neonatal airways; Patient airways
Specimen collection container: Laboratory specimen containers
Wheelchairs:
Two way radios:
Bedpans: Patient bedpans
Blood collection syringes:
Desktop computers:
Personal computers:
Urinalysis test strips:

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