# Psychiatric Aides

> Assist mentally impaired or emotionally disturbed patients, working under direction of nursing and medical staff. May assist with daily living activities, lead patients in educational and recreational activities, or accompany patients to and from examinations and treatments. May restrain violent patients. Includes psychiatric orderlies.

- **SOC code:** 31-1133.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-31-1133-00
- **Also known as:** Mental Health Worker (MHW), Psychiatric Aide, Residential Care Tech (Residential Care Technician), Therapeutic Program Worker (TPW), Developmental Aide, Mental Health Aide (MHA), Psychiatric Assistant, Psychiatric Nursing Aide
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Listen and provide emotional support and encouragement to psychiatric patients.
- Provide patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities with routine physical, emotional, psychological, or rehabilitation care under the direction of nursing or medical staff.
- Complete physical checks and monitor patients to detect unusual or harmful behavior and report observations to professional staff.
- Restrain or aid patients as necessary to prevent injury.
- Work as part of a team that may include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, or social workers.
- Record and maintain patient information, such as vital signs, eating habits, behavior, progress notes, treatments, or discharge plans.
- Maintain patients' restrictions to assigned areas.
- Organize, supervise, or encourage patient participation in social, educational, or recreational activities.
- Provide patients with assistance in bathing, dressing, or grooming, demonstrating these skills as necessary.
- Aid patients in becoming accustomed to hospital routines.
- Serve meals or feed patients needing assistance or persuasion.
- Clean and disinfect rooms and furnishings to maintain a safe and orderly environment.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Psychology _(knowledge)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(transferable_skill)_
- Service Orientation _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Monitoring _(essential_skill)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(ability)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Psychology _(Specialized Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Instructing _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Windows _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Email software
- Patient management software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 14th percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 17th percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 17th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** -0.4% growth (Declining); 5.3k annual openings; 38.5k → 38.3k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $41,590; 34,900 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-31-1133-00_