Occupation
Health care aide
Health care aides provide direct personal and supportive care to patients and residents under the direction of a nurse or other regulated professional. The role is physically demanding and relational: helping people wash, move, eat, and stay comfortable, and being the person most likely to notice that something has changed.
Also known as: Personal support worker · Nursing assistant · Healthcare assistant · Care assistant · Orderly
Occupation content
Part of Healthcare and clinical services
What the work involves
- Help patients and residents with bathing, dressing, toileting, and oral care.
- Transfer and reposition people safely, using lifts and other mobility equipment.
- Serve meals, assist with feeding, and record intake where the care plan requires it.
- Take and log basic measurements such as temperature, pulse, and weight as delegated.
- Report changes in mood, appetite, skin condition, or behaviour to the supervising nurse.
- Keep rooms, equipment, and shared spaces clean and stocked between rounds.
How people commonly enter
- A health care aide, personal support worker, or care certificate programme at a college or training provider.
- Employer-provided induction and on-the-job training where the jurisdiction permits it.
- A supported entry route through a care-home or home-care employer with training built in.
Typical training: Varies by employer or jurisdiction
Licensing: Regulated in some jurisdictions — confirm the current requirement with the regulator in your province, state, or country.
Typical work context
Team based · Public facing · Physically active · Shift work · Predictable routine · Client sites
Related interests
Social (helping) · Realistic (hands-on)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Healthcare and clinical services.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- O*NET OnLine — Nursing Assistants (31-1131.00) · United States
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- UK National Careers Service — Healthcare assistant · United Kingdom
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- Canada Job Bank — Explore an occupation (search: health care aide) · Canada
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Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Healthcare and clinical services in Canada, not a figure for Health care aide. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Healthcare and clinical services family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Healthcare and clinical services: education pathways
Some roles in Healthcare and clinical services may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Healthcare and clinical services: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Health care aide”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)