Assistant in Nursing
What the work is
Provides limited patient care under the direction of nursing staff in a hospital or aged care facility.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Supports patients with daily activities such as mobility and personal care
- Follows therapy plans such as interventions, to assist patients
- Observes and reports changes in patients' conditions, and reports complaints about care provided
- Provides basic treatment and delivery of medications under the direction of nursing staff, including vaccinations
- Participates in planning the care of patients and residents
- Assists with rehabilitation exercises
- Assists in workplace health and safety
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a residential aged care home and hospital ward at a fictional regional health service. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A resident who rarely speaks tells you a story about their old farm
- You help someone get out of bed and into the sun for the first time in days
- A shift where the call bells are calm and the team gets to sit down together
Hard days
- Lifting, turning and walking beside people for hours on end
- A family member who is upset about care they cannot see happening
- Saying goodbye to a resident you have looked after for a long time
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 442231, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.