Will “Mental Health Aide (MHA)” be Automated?

Core Skills & Abilities

• Listen and provide emotional support and encouragement to psychiatric patients.

• Restrain or aid patients as necessary to prevent injury.

• Complete physical checks and monitor patients to detect unusual or harmful behavior and report observations to professional staff.

• Organize, supervise, or encourage patient participation in social, educational, or recreational activities.

• Aid patients in becoming accustomed to hospital routines.

• Work as part of a team that may include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, or social workers.

• Record and maintain patient information, such as vital signs, eating habits, behavior, progress notes, treatments, or discharge plans.

• Participate in recreational activities with patients, including card games, sports, or television viewing.

• Provide patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities with routine physical, emotional, psychological, or rehabilitation care under the direction of nursing or medical staff.

• Interview patients upon admission and record information.

• Maintain patients' restrictions to assigned areas.

• Clean and disinfect rooms and furnishings to maintain a safe and orderly environment.

• Accompany patients to and from wards for medical or dental treatments, shopping trips, or religious or recreational events.

• Complete administrative tasks, such as entering orders into computer, answering telephone calls, or maintaining medical or facility information.

• Serve meals or feed patients needing assistance or persuasion.

• Provide patients with assistance in bathing, dressing, or grooming, demonstrating these skills as necessary.

• Perform nursing duties, such as administering medications, measuring vital signs, collecting specimens, or drawing blood samples.