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.
Most important skills
- Service Orientation
- Active Listening
- Social Perceptiveness
- Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Coordination
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- English Language
- Public Safety and Security
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Education and Training
- Therapy and Counseling
- Psychology
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.
- Feed patients or assist patients to eat or drink.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Realistic, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (38.7% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (26.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (60.3%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Nursing Assistants is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 87% of occupations compared | 87% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 60% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 86% of occupations compared | 83% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 96% of occupations compared | 24% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 62% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 72% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 94% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 68% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 2.12%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 10.86%
- Constant contact with others: 87.02%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 14.34%
- Fairly important: 9.93%
- Important: 17.3%
- Very important: 11.76%
- Extremely important: 46.68%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 5.47%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 11.83%
- Extremely important: 82.7%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 23.38%
- Very little freedom: 10.14%
- Limited freedom: 21.78%
- Some freedom: 21.18%
- A lot of freedom: 23.52%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 9.9%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 4.24%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 28.97%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.61%
- Every day: 38.27%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 15.78%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 16.57%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.64%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 33.48%
- Every day: 16.53%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 7.71%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.89%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 37.19%
- Every day: 37.21%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 29.28%
- Fairly serious: 4.24%
- Serious: 7.52%
- Very serious: 14.95%
- Extremely serious: 44.01%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 31-1131.00 · SOC 31-1131 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8