How Much Do Patient Care Technician Jobs Pay?

Interested in becoming a patient care technician? Now is the time to get started since the demand and patient care technician jobs are increasing.

Patient care technicians’ jobs offer copious employee benefits, a median salary of $45,980, and so much more! Also, becoming a Patient care technician earns you self-satisfaction because you’ll work with the people who are in need of your help.

So, are you willing to be a part of the healthcare system and contribute your effort along with other medical staff such as doctors and nurses? If so, then you may deem of starting a career as a patient care technician (PCT).

Who Are The Patient Care Technicians?

They work side by side with doctors and nurses, sometimes alone or with the instruction of their supervisor, to monitor patients’ activity and perform a variety of other tasks.

What are the day to day primary responsibilities of patient care technicians? Keep reading to find out.

Take blood samples from the patient’s body.
Helping the patient and other equipment to move.
Escorting the patient when needed.
Preparing diet plans.
Perform electrocardiogram accurately
Checking patients heart rate, body temperature, breathing rate and other vital signs.
Understand patients’ needs.
Help patients to eat, bathe and maintain personal hygiene.
Proper medical documentation.
Cleaning patients room.
Report to doctor or nurse.

Feature That a Patient Care Technician Should have

Patient care technicians’ daily work routine is quite exhaustive and sensitive, as they need to work closely with mostly elderly and ill people. To start working as a patient care technician (pct), a person must have some essential attributes.

The followings are expected skills that a patient care technician must have:

Communication

Patient care technicians must have good communication skills. It is imperative for them to understand how the patient is feeling to eliminate any potential health-related problem or to alleviate the patient’s discomfort.

Physical Strength

Patient care technician spends most of their time on their feet, moving from one department to another. Also, many older people are unable to move on their own and need the support of others. In this case, a patient care technician (PCT) have to lift and aid them to move.

As a result, a patient care technician had to be physically fit in order to remain active around the clock.

Show empathy

One of the best ways to get close with the patient is by showing empathy towards them. This also earns the trust of the patients. And via this, patients feel more secure and friendly while talking.

Multitasking

Being a multitasker is a crucial trait that a patient care technician should have because they have to do many things. For instance, you may prepare medical notes while talking with the patient.

Or you may have to operate the EKG machine and interact with both doctor and patient at the same time.

Attentive to detail

Every single change can have a significant impact on a patient’s body. Patient Care technicians are responsible for looking after their patients in the most effective manner possible. They also report even a tiny change of patient to the doctor or appointed nurse.

Is the job of a patient care technician challenging?

To be honest, it varies from person to person. If you enjoy caring for other people as you’d care for your family members, then the job is quite amusing. But you may face a few obstacles along the way.

What are those?

Keep yourself running all day long
Willing to work 24/7
Learn vast medical terminology.
Cope up with the massive workload

These are the most prevalent difficulties that patient care technicians have to deal with. But you will have no trouble overcoming these difficulties if you like taking on challenges and want a good career.

Qualifications to Become a Patient Care Technician

You may think that you’ll need some advanced degrees or higher education to start your career as a patient care technician. But the good news is no higher studies are mandatory for becoming a PCT!

So, what are the most important qualifications you should have if you want to improve your employability?

Completion of High school, GED or equivalent.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification
Diploma in patient care technician
Certified Patient care technician program

Do you have the qualifications listed above? If yes, you should progress further in your search for a job as a patient care technician. But if you don’t, you may enroll in any training program.

Most patient care technician training costs between $3000 – $4000 and can take up to 6 months to finish. And a diploma may cost a bit more.

Future Career Outlook

Like all other health care workers, the demand for patient care technicians is also increasing rapidly. And the demand soared to unprecedented heights.

A report published on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website stated that in the year 2020, there were nearly 1,440,700 jobs for patient care technicians. And it is forecasted to increase by 8% by the end of 2029.

The career of the patient care technician is also promising; within just a few years of experience and additional training, a PCT can become a PCT supervisor, emergency room or dialysis technician.

Or, if you want to move to the nursing profession, you have the option available as well, but this will require you to acquire an advanced nursing programme.

How Much Do Patient Care Technicians Make?

The minimum hourly salary of patient care technicians is $17.42, which makes around $37,000 a year, and the average patient care technician earn a median hourly salary of $22 per hour and $45,000/years

But the salary of the patient care technicians can also differ based on the employer location and state. Below we’ll go through a few of the states that pay the most to patient care technicians:

New York – $23.05
Atlanta – $20.32
Texas – $19.20
Illinois – $19.06

Do Patient care technicians enjoy any benefit?

YES! Like other jobs, patient care technicians also get various job perks. Some are as follows:

Flexible working hour

As you can have shifts any time throughout the day or night, your employer will allow you to choose whether you wish to work the day, evening, or night shift on occasions.

Training

Many patient care technicians start their careers with having moderate skill and knowledge. And employers are also aware of this issue. So they provide both additional and on job training to them.