Nursing Assistants
Provide or assist with basic care or support under the direction of onsite licensed nursing staff. Perform duties such as monitoring of health status, feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, or ambulation of patients in a health or nursing facility. May include medication administration and other health-related tasks. Includes nursing care attendants, nursing aides, and nursing attendants.
- Median pay
- $42,260
- Doing it now
- 1,505,900
- By 2035
- Up 2.6%
- Usually needs
- Postsecondary nondegree award
a year
across the country
196,200 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Answer patient call signals, signal lights, bells, or intercom systems to determine patients' needs.
- Assist nurses or physicians in the operation of medical equipment or provision of patient care.
- Change bed linens or make beds.
- Clean and sanitize patient rooms, bathrooms, examination rooms, or other patient areas.
- Collect specimens, such as urine, feces, or sputum.
- Communicate with patients to ascertain feelings or need for assistance or social and emotional support.
- Document or otherwise report observations of patient behavior, complaints, or physical symptoms to nurses.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing AssistantsSee 15 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Helping and teaching
Hands-on and practical
Organised and precise
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $42,260 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.