Patient Care Technician Overview
Annika is a Senior at IU majoring in Exercise Science on the Pre-PA track. She has minors in Psychology and Medical Sciences. From Zionsville, IN she couldn’t be more thrilled with her college experience at IUB! She enjoys working out, spending time with friends and family, and being outdoors. She plans on becoming a Physician Assistant and is excited to see what she ends up specializing in after completing PA school.
While in school, Annika works as a Patient Care Technician (PCT) at a hospital near her hometown. This job gave her the opportunity to see what a job in healthcare looked like. For PA school she needed direct patient care hours, so she selected to work as a PCT to obtain those requirements. She is choosing to gain additional experience over her winter break when she has more time to give to work and interact with patients. Annika summarizes what a typical day looks like as a PCT. She starts off by going to the hospital around 6:20 for a 6:30 a.m. start time. Once in the hospital and on the unit, she gets report from the night shift PCT. Reports are given so that when shift change occurs you know which patients you have, their room number, their reason for being in the hospital, as well as information needed to help care for them throughout the day. Around 7 a.m. after report is given, she finds the nurses for her patients and asks if there is anything specific that they prefer her to do for certain patients. Once she checks in with the nurses, she begins her first set of vitals.
Vitals are typically checked every four hours but occasionally more or less frequently depending on the patient. Vitals that are taken in this position are blood pressure, heart rate, respirations, temperature, and pulse oximeter readings. Once all the vitals are taken for the patient the information is charted, and she makes sure the patient doesn’t need anything while she is in the room and informs them that she will be back in later to check on them. This process is done for every patient that is given that day which ranges from 8-12 patients. Since vitals are taken every four hours, for her 12 hour shift she does vitals three times. Additional tasks she completes are changing linen, assisting with bathing, assisting with ambulation, rounding on patients hourly, answering call lights or phones, and most importantly making sure the patient is comfortable and has everything they may need that day.
If you have questions about how one becomes a PCT and how she was able to do this while pursing her education, Annika would be happy to share details of her clinical journey.
