Activities include playing games and watching television. Sometimes they play sports or go on field trips. Aides also accompany patients to and from examinations and treatments. Because aides spend a lot of time with patients, they are often the first to notice changes in their behavior. Aides report these changes to the doctors.
Aides work on a team with psychiatrists and psychologists.
Nurses, social workers, and therapists also are part of the team. Psychiatric Aides is a specialty of Nursing Assistants . For more information, see the Nursing Assistants occupation. Psychiatric Aides is in the Legal, Social, and Recreation Services Career Cluster.