[1] Healthcare technicians' primary position is to assist medical staff complete tasks around their assigned unit or clinic's and accommodate patient needs.
Healthcare technicians are typically found in specialty clinics, intensive care, emergency departments, or laboratory collection facilities.
The technician is an integral member of the unit-based healthcare team, they contribute to the continuity of care by decreasing fragmentation through decentralization of selected diagnostic and therapeutic treatment modalities.
HCTs' objectives are to provide basic nursing care, use communication skills to assist patients in adapting to common health problems, provide continuity of care, demonstrate acceptance of responsibility for learning purposes, and proper demonstration for accountability purposes.
[3] HCTs can assist the medical team while evaluating patients on a routine basis within primary care clinics.
[5] This type of care usually involves the following duties:[2] According to a recent article the following tasks met as the highest job priority for healthcare technicians: Blood draws, arterial gases, venous access through IV insertion, central line dressing changes, electrocardiograms, patient monitoring, oxygen requirements, breathing exercises, and vital signs.
The empathetic approach that HCT's use while on the job can assist medical teams better care for patients facing chronic health illnesses.
[9] There is a growing need for a cohort of competent technicians to support the range of occupational health service delivery and to release nurses from some of the more routine tasks of their day-to-day work.