Tell me about your job!

Nursing Students Technicians

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I've been newly hired as a PCT at a hospital and I know the job varies greatly across different units and departments. Tell me about your department and what kinds of responsibilities you have, what are some new things that you've been excited you've learned? Why do you think your unit is the best unit to work for?

Is medical unit similar to med-surg? What kinds of patients do you get in your unit? I have been offered a position in either general internal or cardiothoracic surgery-telemetry and am trying to get an understanding of what kinds of new skills I will be able to learn. Sounds like your job is amazing! :)

Sorry I took so long to get back to this! A medical ward (I say unit because I think that is the US term and I didn't want to confuse you) takes just medical patients, our wards/units are either medical or surgical, not both.

Which job did you go for in the end?

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Cardiothoracic surgery/Telemetry! I'm really excited, I was originally leaning towards General Internal Medicine but the managers let me come in and talk to some of the PCTs and I just kind of fell in love with how busy it seemed and how much the PCTs were telling me they've learned. In general, the nurses and PCTs just seemed to be working together so much more efficiently on Telemetry so I ended up going for that one. Thanks for all of your input though, its all so exciting!

Oh, and to those of you that worked or are working while in nursing school, how many hours do you do? Is it too crazy?

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Melosaur, how come only the nurse techs are allowed to do manual BPs? That seems really odd to me!

It does seem odd, at my hospital the nurse techs are not allowed to do manual B/Ps for some unknown reason, only the RN's.

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.
Melosaur, how come only the nurse techs are allowed to do manual BPs? That seems really odd to me!

The only reason I can think of is that our NA's are not CNA's (not certified) and about 99% of our NA's are not in nursing school. You can only be an NT if you're in nursing school and I guess they just automatically assume that because we are in nursing school, we can take manual BP's and our NA's don't have the "training" to take them. That's just my guess. It varies depending on your hospital...at my old job I worked as a PCNA (patient care nursing assistant...basically a "glorified" nursing assistant or CNA, even though I'm not certified) and we were allowed to do manual BP's. We also had PCT's at that hospital who could do a little more than the PCNA's (just blood draws and foley insertion). Overall I get the most experience at my current job!

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how much do clinical assistants/patient tech's make in TX?

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Hi Everyone,

I recently moved from Fl to NY due to a family emergency. I was in my 2nd semsester of the BSN program. I recently got certified as a PCA and now EKG and Phlebotomy, therefore PCT. I'm looking for a job as a PCT in a hospital in

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Hi Everyone,

Due to a family emergency, I had to move from Fl to NY. I was in my 2nd semester of the BSN program. I recently got certifed as a PCA, EKG and Phlebotomy, therefore PCT. I'm looking for a PCT job at any nearby hospital of Westbury Long Island NY. If anyone has any ideas or knows of any hospital hiring, please let me know.

Thank you in advance

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Specializes in Perioperative Patient Care Technician.

I work telemetry and it is usually a pretty busy floor. I get vital signs every four hours, check blood glucose, turn patients every two hours, ambulate patients per MD orders, toilet patients, provide A.M. care for patients, perform ECGs, pull femoral arterial sheaths after patients return from cath lab, answer call lights, empty foley catheters, take out foley catheters, admit patients, discharge patients, take out patient IVs, help the nurses, and more! It's busy!

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