Other Assisting Occupations in Support of Health Services (3414)

Job titles

• activities co-ordinator - health support services
• activity worker
• acupuncture assistant
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Nature of work

This unit group includes workers who provide services and assistance to health care professionals and other health care staff. They are employed in hospitals, medical clinics, offices of health care professionals, nursing homes, optical retail stores and laboratories, pharmacies and medical pathology laboratories.

Fields of interest

• Providing others with care and assistance

Main duties

• The following is a summary of main duties for some occupations in this unit group:
• - Orthopedic technologists assist orthopedic surgeons in the treatment of orthopedic diseases and injuries by applying and adjusting casts, splints, bandages and other orthopedic devices; assisting in the application, maintenance and adjustment of traction equipment; cleaning and dressing wounds; and removing casts, sutures, staples and pins. They also instruct patients and their families and other health care professionals with respect to orthopedic matters.
• - Therapy assistants prepare and maintain equipment and supplies, assist patients as directed by health care professionals such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists and chiropractors and may perform routine office functions.
• - Optical/ophthalmic laboratory technicians and assistants operate laboratory equipment to grind, cut, polish and edge lenses for eyeglasses according to prescriptions received and fit lenses into frames; make minor repairs for customers such as replacing frame screws or straightening frames; and maintain and repair optical laboratory equipment or machinery.
• - Pharmacy assistants assist pharmacists by compounding, packaging and labelling pharmaceutical products and by maintaining prescription records and inventories of medications and pharmaceutical products.
• - Central supply aides collect and sort soiled supplies and instruments from hospital departments; operate machines such as instrument washers, sonic sinks, cart washers and steam autoclaves to clean, reprocess and sterilize these supplies for re-use; and assemble packs of sterile supplies and instruments for delivery to hospital departments.
• - Blood donor clinic assistants set up and dismantle equipment; prepare and maintain cleanliness of collection areas; maintain supplies; record information on donors; monitor donors throughout procedure and assist with post-donation care and donor reaction care as assigned under supervision of a registered nurse; and label and process donated blood.
• - Morgue attendants assist pathologists at autopsies by laying out surgical instruments; preparing solutions for preservation of specimens; transferring bodies from morgue to examining table; removing organs and tissue specimens, as instructed by attending pathologist, and placing them in preservative solutions; and cleaning and sewing up bodies for release to funeral home.

Employment requirements

• * Orthopedic technologists usually require completion of secondary school
• and
• Several months of on-the-job training
• or
• A college orthopedic technologist program.
• * Registration with the Canadian Society of Orthopaedic Technologists is available and usually required by employers.
• * Health care courses or short-term college programs related to the work of medical assistants, such as occupational therapy assistant/physiotherapy assistant programs or a program in central supply service techniques, are available and may be required by employers.
• * Pharmacy assistants require completion of secondary school andSeveral months of on-the-job training orA five- to nine-month college program in pharmaceutical services.
• * Completion of secondary school and several months of on-the-job training are usually required for other assisting occupations in this unit group.

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