Job description Therapy Assistant in the Lethbridge–Medicine Hat Region

Find out what work is like for a therapy assistant in Canada. This work description is applicable to all Other assisting occupations in support of health services (NOC 33109).

Other assisting occupations in support of health services

Description

Other assisting workers in support of health services 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, and medical pathology laboratories.

Job duties

Here are some of the main activities and tasks that Other assisting occupations in support of health services have to perform, and some of the physical demands they involve:

  • Audiometric technicians
  • Under the supervision of audiologists, administer tests such as pure tone hearing screening, impedance tests and noise level measurements using equipment such as audiometers and sound level meters to determine hearing thresholds of patients
  • Instruct patients on test procedures and record results
  • Monitor, check and calibrate auditory equipment
  • May take earmold impressions and fit and adjust hearing instruments.
  • Orthopedic technologists
  • Assist orthopedic surgeons in the treatment of orthopedic diseases and injuries by applying and adjusting casts, splints, bandages and other orthopedic devices
  • Assist in the application, maintenance and adjustment of traction equipment
  • Clean and dress wounds
  • Remove casts, sutures, staples and pins
  • Instruct patients and their families and other health care professionals with respect to orthopedic matters.
  • Rehabilitation aids
  • Prepare and maintain equipment and supplies
  • Assist in activities for the rehabilitation of patients as directed by health care professionals
  • May perform routine office functions.
  • Ophthalmic assistants
  • Take patients' general medical and ophthalmic history
  • Operate ophthalmic testing and measuring instruments to aid ophthalmologists in assessing patients' vision
  • Instruct patient on diagnostic test and record results
  • Assist ophthalmologists in minor office surgery
  • Administer eye drops, ointments and medications as directed by ophthalmologists
  • Clean and maintain ophthalmic instruments and equipment
  • Perform various administrative duties
  • 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
  • Maintain and repair optical laboratory equipment or machinery.
  • Sterile processing technicians
  • Operate and maintain sterilization equipment such as instrument washers, sonic sinks, cart washers and steam autoclaves to clean and disinfect trays, carts, linens, supplies, instrumentation and equipment for re-use according to standardized safety practices
  • Reassemble equipment 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
  • Monitor donors throughout procedure and assist with post-donation care and donor reaction care as assigned under the supervision of a registered nurse
  • Record information on donors
  • Label and process donated blood.
  • Morgue attendants
  • Assist pathologists at autopsies by laying out surgical instruments
  • Prepare solutions for preservation of specimens
  • Transfer bodies from morgue to examining table
  • Remove organs and tissue specimens, as instructed by attending pathologist, and placing them in preservative solutions
  • Clean and sew up bodies for release to funeral home.

Physical demands

Physical demands are the physical activities that the job requires the worker to do. Physical demands are selected according to the likeliness that workers will have to perform them for at least half of the time they spend at work.

Work environment

The work environment refers to the physical setting in which people work. The characteristics and conditions of the work environment are selected according to the likeliness that workers will be exposed to them at least once a week.

Physical proximity from others

Physical proximity from others refers to the physical distance between individuals in the workplace. The likeliness that the job requires to perform tasks while being physically close to other people is rated on a scale with 3 levels: "Somewhat close", "Close" and "Very close".

Related job titles

Here are some other related job titles that are found in the same occupational category (NOC 33109), and a list of similar occupations:

  • audiometric assistant
  • audiometric technician
  • autopsy assistant
  • blood donor clinic assistant
  • cast room technician
  • chiropractic assistant
  • clinical laboratory helper
  • morgue attendant
  • ophthalmic assistant
  • ophthalmic laboratory technician - retail
  • ophthalmic lens grinder
  • ophthalmologist assistant
  • optical laboratory assistant
  • optometrist assistant
  • orthopedic technologist
  • sterile processing technician

Similar occupations Help - Similar occupations

Similar occupations

This section lists other occupations that are part of the same broad occupational category as Other assisting occupations in support of health services in the National Occupational Classification (NOC). These occupations involve similar core qualifications but involve different responsibilities. To see more similar occupations, use the Job Transition Tool.

Sources Occupational and Skills Information System & National Occupational Classification

Labour Market Information Survey
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