New York State Department of Civil Service

Division of Classification & Compensation

Classification Standard

Occ. Code 5501100

Hospital Attendant 1, Grade 5

Brief Description of Class

            Hospital Attendants 1 attend to the daily living and personal hygiene needs of patients to make them feel more comfortable. Incumbents may also devote considerable time to housekeeping and cleaning tasks related to patient care and to the transportation of patients, equipment, information, and supplies. These positions are located at the medical centers of the State University of New York and the Department of Health’s Helen Hayes Hospital.

Distinguishing Characteristics

            Hospital Attendant 1: attends to the daily living and personal hygiene needs of patients; performs housekeeping and cleaning tasks related to patient care; and transports patients and supplies.

Related Classes

            Cleaners perform a variety of routine manual tasks requiring light, medium, and heavy physical effort in cleaning and caring for an assigned area of a facility. Positions do not perform patient care tasks or attend to patient needs. 

            Nursing Assistants provide care to individuals in clinical settings.  Such care ranges from attending to individuals’ personal hygiene needs to ensure individuals’ comfort, and in assisting clinicians with basic patient care tasks requiring knowledge of treatment procedures.

Illustrative Tasks

Attends to patients' personal hygiene, daily living, and mobility needs to maintain a comfortable atmosphere that is conducive to treatment.

· Collects and carries patients' laundry and dry cleaning and delivers items to the appropriate location in the health care facility.

· Receives patients' valuables and other belongings, transports them to safe storage, and keeps records.   

· Escorts patients to and from facilities where treatments are administered.

· Assists with feeding patients requiring assistance to ensure that patients receive appropriate nourishment.

· Bathes, dresses, brushes teeth, and trims fingernails and toenails of patients; assists patients with resolving incontinence situations

· Brings bedpans and urinals to patients.

· Under direction of professional staff, moves, positions, lifts, and transports patients using a variety of lifts and other aids to prepare patients for treatment, and to deliver patients to the treatment facilities. 

· Greets and talks with patients, listens to their complaints, and responds by encouraging them to cooperate and participate in treatment activities to help them achieve attitudes conducive to treatment and rehabilitation.

· Observes patients inside and outside of treatment areas, and records simple notes for clinical staff.

· May assist in collecting patient samples for laboratory analysis.

Performs a variety of housekeeping, inventory, and cleaning duties to ensure that clinical areas are clean, sanitary, orderly, and properly supplied.

· Keeps an inventory of current supplies to determine the need for ordering new supplies.

· Fills out requisition forms for clinical staff, and forwards forms for approval to maintain supplies at appropriate levels.

· Changes bed and other hospital linens to ensure that clean linens are always provided.

· May mop floors and wash windows, walls, bedside stands, beds, tables, chairs, toilets, and various pieces of equipment to keep clinical areas clean and sanitary.

· Cleans thermometers, equipment, and other instruments as directed; may transport items to central sterile departments for cleaning.

Minimum Requirements  

Non-Competitive: possession or ability to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities during the probationary period. 

Note:  Classification Standards illustrate the nature, extent and scope of duties and responsibilities of the classes they describe.  Standards cannot and do not include all the work that might be appropriately performed by a class.  The minimum qualifications above are those which were required for appointment at the time the Classification Standard was written.  Please contact the Division of Staffing Services for current information on minimum qualification requirements for appointment or examination.

12/2020

CRM/AR