Psychiatric Aides

People in this career often have these skills:

• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• 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.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• 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.
• 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.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

People in this career often have talent in:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• 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.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

People in this career often do these activities:

• Record vital statistics or other health information.
• Maintain medical records.
• Encourage patients during therapeutic activities.
• Monitor patients to detect health problems.
• Assess physical conditions of patients to aid in diagnosis or treatment.
• Hold patients to ensure proper positioning or safety.

• Feed patients.
• Confer with other professionals to plan patient care.
• Clean patient rooms or patient treatment rooms.
• Care for patients with mental illnesses.
• Perform clerical work in medical settings.
• Assist patients with daily activities.
• Collect biological specimens from patients.
• Give medications or immunizations.
• Interview patients to gather medical information.
• Accompany patients or clients on outings to provide assistance.
• Engage patients in exercises or activities.

• Social and Human Service Assistants

• Psychiatric Technicians

• Home Health Aides

• Personal Care Aides

• Occupational Therapy Assistants

• Occupational Therapy Aides

• Physical Therapist Aides

• Correctional Officers and Jailers

• Childcare Workers

• Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians