Job Duties Custom List 31-9091.00 — Dental Assistants
- Assist dentist in management of medical or dental emergencies.
Occupations with related tasks Save Table: XLSX CSV
- Assist veterinarians in examining animals to determine the nature of illnesses or injuries.
- Prepare surgical equipment and pass instruments or materials to veterinarians during surgical procedures.
- Provide assistance with euthanasia of animals or disposal of corpses.
- Hold or restrain animals during veterinary procedures.
- Monitor animals recovering from surgery and notify veterinarians of any unusual changes or symptoms.
- Fill medication prescriptions.
- Clean and maintain kennels, animal holding areas, examination or operating rooms, or animal loading or unloading facilities to control the spread of disease.
- Examine animals to detect behavioral changes or clinical symptoms that could indicate illness or injury.
- Perform routine laboratory tests or diagnostic tests, such as taking or developing x-rays.
- Administer medication, immunizations, or blood plasma to animals as prescribed by veterinarians.
- Collect laboratory specimens, such as blood, urine, or feces, for testing.
- Perform office reception duties, such as scheduling appointments or helping customers.
- Clean, maintain, and sterilize instruments or equipment.
- Record information relating to animal genealogy, feeding schedules, appearance, behavior, or breeding.
- Provide emergency first aid to sick or injured animals.
- Educate or advise clients on animal health care, nutrition, or behavior problems.
- Prepare examination or treatment rooms by stocking them with appropriate supplies.
- Prepare feed for animals according to specific instructions, such as diet lists or schedules.
- Write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties.
- Perform hygiene-related duties, such as clipping animals' claws or cleaning and polishing teeth.
- Perform enemas, catheterizations, ear flushes, intravenous feedings, or gavages.
- Perform accounting duties, such as bookkeeping, billing customers for services, or maintaining inventories.
- Exercise animals or provide them with companionship.
- Place orders to restock inventory of hospital or laboratory supplies.
- Sell pet food or supplies to customers.
- Dust, spray, or bathe animals to control insect pests.
- Administer anesthetics during surgery and monitor the effects on animals.
- Groom, trim, or clip animals' coats.
- Assist veterinarians in examining animals to determine the nature of illnesses or injuries.
- Prepare surgical equipment and pass instruments or materials to veterinarians during surgical procedures.
- Provide assistance with euthanasia of animals or disposal of corpses.
- Hold or restrain animals during veterinary procedures.
- Assist nurses or physicians in the operation of medical equipment or provision of patient care.
- Turn or reposition bedridden patients.
- Lift or assist others to lift patients to move them on or off beds, examination tables, surgical tables, or stretchers.
- Position or hold patients in position for surgical preparation.
- Answer patient call signals, signal lights, bells, or intercom systems to determine patients' needs.
- Feed patients or assist patients to eat or drink.
- Measure and record food and liquid intake or urinary and fecal output, reporting changes to medical or nursing staff.
- Provide physical support to assist patients to perform daily living activities, such as getting out of bed, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, standing, walking, or exercising.
- Document or otherwise report observations of patient behavior, complaints, or physical symptoms to nurses.
- Remind patients to take medications or nutritional supplements.
- Review patients' dietary restrictions, food allergies, and preferences to ensure patient receives appropriate diet.
- Undress, wash, and dress patients who are unable to do so for themselves.
- Observe or examine patients to detect symptoms that may require medical attention, such as bruises, open wounds, or blood in urine.
- Supply, collect, or empty bedpans.
- Communicate with patients to ascertain feelings or need for assistance or social and emotional support.
- Record vital signs, such as temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration rate, as directed by medical or nursing staff.
- Gather information from caregivers, nurses, or physicians about patient condition, treatment plans, or appropriate activities.
- Wash, groom, shave, or drape patients to prepare them for surgery, treatment, or examination.
- Prepare or serve food trays.
- Change bed linens or make beds.
- Exercise patients who are comatose, paralyzed, or have restricted mobility.
- Restock patient rooms with personal hygiene items, such as towels, washcloths, soap, or toilet paper.
- Clean and sanitize patient rooms, bathrooms, examination rooms, or other patient areas.
- Record height or weight of patients.
- Transport patients to treatment units, testing units, operating rooms, or other areas, using wheelchairs, stretchers, or moveable beds.
- Collect specimens, such as urine, feces, or sputum.
- Provide information, such as directions, visiting hours, or patient status information to visitors or callers.
- Set up treating or testing equipment, such as oxygen tents, portable radiograph (x-ray) equipment, or overhead irrigation bottles, as directed by a physician or nurse.
- Administer medications or treatments, such as catheterizations, suppositories, irrigations, enemas, massages, or douches, as directed by a physician or nurse.
- Apply clean dressings, slings, stockings, or support bandages, under direction of nurse or physician.
- Stock or issue medical supplies, such as dressing packs or treatment trays.
- Explain medical instructions to patients or family members.
- Transport specimens, laboratory items, or pharmacy items, ensuring proper documentation and delivery to authorized personnel.
- Assist nurses or physicians in the operation of medical equipment or provision of patient care.
- Turn or reposition bedridden patients.
- Lift or assist others to lift patients to move them on or off beds, examination tables, surgical tables, or stretchers.
- Position or hold patients in position for surgical preparation.
- Assist physicians or registered nurses in the conduct of endoscopic procedures.
- Position or transport patients in accordance with instructions from medical personnel.
- Clean, disinfect, or calibrate scopes or other endoscopic instruments according to manufacturer recommendations and facility standards.
- Collect specimens from patients, using standard medical procedures.
- Perform safety checks to verify proper equipment functioning.
- Maintain or repair endoscopic equipment.
- Place devices, such as blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeter sensors, nasal cannulas, surgical cautery pads, and cardiac monitoring electrodes, on patients to monitor vital signs.
- Prepare suites or rooms according to endoscopic procedure requirements.
- Maintain inventories of endoscopic equipment and supplies.
- Attend in-service training to validate or refresh basic professional skills.
- Conduct in-service training sessions to disseminate information regarding equipment or instruments.
- Read current literature, talk with colleagues, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in endoscopy.
- Assist physicians or registered nurses in the conduct of endoscopic procedures.
- Position or transport patients in accordance with instructions from medical personnel.
- Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures.
- Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician.
- Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height.
- Clean and sterilize instruments and dispose of contaminated supplies.
- Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records.
- Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients.
- Prepare treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean.
- Collect blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, log the specimens, and prepare them for testing.
- Perform routine laboratory tests and sample analyses.
- Greet and log in patients arriving at office or clinic.
- Perform general office duties, such as answering telephones, taking dictation, or completing insurance forms.
- Prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician.
- Authorize drug refills and provide prescription information to pharmacies.
- Change dressings on wounds.
- Schedule appointments for patients.
- Inventory and order medical, lab, or office supplies or equipment.
- Contact medical facilities or departments to schedule patients for tests or admission.
- Operate x-ray, electrocardiogram (EKG), or other equipment to administer routine diagnostic tests.
- Set up medical laboratory equipment.
- Keep financial records or perform other bookkeeping duties, such as handling credit or collections or mailing monthly statements to patients.
- Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures.
- Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician.
- Assist hospital staff with patient care duties, such as providing transportation or setting up traction.
- Operate and maintain steam autoclaves, keeping records of loads completed, items in loads, and maintenance procedures performed.
- Clean instruments to prepare them for sterilization.
- Record sterilizer test results.
- Organize and assemble routine or specialty surgical instrument trays or other sterilized supplies, filling special requests as needed.
- Examine equipment to detect leaks, worn or loose parts, or other indications of disrepair.
- Report defective equipment to appropriate supervisors or staff.
- Maintain records of inventory or equipment usage and order medical instruments or supplies when inventory is low.
- Stock crash carts or other medical supplies.
- Start equipment and observe gauges and equipment operation to detect malfunctions and to ensure equipment is operating to prescribed standards.
- Check sterile supplies to ensure that they are not outdated.
- Attend hospital in-service programs related to areas of work specialization.
- Disinfect and sterilize equipment, such as respirators, hospital beds, or oxygen or dialysis equipment, using sterilizers, aerators, or washers.
- Purge wastes from equipment by connecting equipment to water sources and flushing water through systems.
- Deliver equipment to specified hospital locations or to patients' residences.
- Order medical supplies for healthcare facilities or laboratories.
- Assist hospital staff with patient care duties, such as providing transportation or setting up traction.
- Assist coroners at death scenes or at autopsies, file police reports, and testify at inquests or in court, if employed by a coroner.
- Conform to laws of health and sanitation and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met.
- Apply cosmetics to impart lifelike appearance to the deceased.
- Join lips, using needles and thread or wire.
- Close incisions, using needles and sutures.
- Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs.
- Clean and disinfect areas in which bodies are prepared and embalmed.
- Dress bodies and place them in caskets.
- Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump.
- Remove the deceased from place of death and transport to funeral home.
- Perform the duties of funeral directors, including coordinating funeral activities.
- Attach trocar to pump-tube, start pump, and repeat probing to force embalming fluid into organs.
- Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using dermasurgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of Paris, and wax.
- Pack body orifices with cotton saturated with embalming fluid to prevent escape of gases or waste matter.
- Conduct interviews to arrange for the preparation of obituary notices, to assist with the selection of caskets or urns, and to determine the location and time of burials or cremations.
- Insert convex celluloid or cotton between eyeballs and eyelids to prevent slipping and sinking of eyelids.
- Assist with placing caskets in hearses and organize cemetery processions.
- Maintain records, such as itemized lists of clothing or valuables delivered with body and names of persons embalmed.
- Wash and dry bodies, using germicidal soap and towels or hot air dryers.
- Arrange for transporting the deceased to another state for interment.
- Perform special procedures necessary for remains that are to be transported to other states or overseas, or where death was caused by infectious disease.
- Supervise funeral attendants and other funeral home staff.
- Serve as pallbearers, attend visiting rooms, and provide other assistance to the bereaved.
- Direct casket and floral display placement and arrange guest seating.
- Arrange funeral home equipment and perform general maintenance.
- Press diaphragm to evacuate air from lungs.
- Assist coroners at death scenes or at autopsies, file police reports, and testify at inquests or in court, if employed by a coroner.
