Other Health Service Support Staff
Job description
These individuals perform a variety of support duties. They assist several categories of health care professionals, including the following:
- Orthopedic surgeons
- Ophthalmologists
- Optometrists
- Pharmacists
- Pathologists
Environment
- Controlled ambient temperature
- Hazardous chemical
- Biological agents
- Odours
Main tasks
Orthopedic Technologists
- Assist orthopedic surgeons in the treatment of diseases and injuries.
- Install and adjust orthopedic prostheses.
- Assist in the assembly, maintenance, and adjustment of traction equipment.
- Clean and dress wounds.
- Remove plaster, stitches, staples, and pins.
- Inform patients, families, and other health care professionals.
Optical and Ophthalmology Laboratory Technicians and Assistants
- Cut, polish, finish, and adjust lenses.
- Perform minor repairs (e.g. replace frame screws).
- Maintain and repair optical laboratory equipment or machinery.
Sterilization Process Technicians
- Maintain and use the sterilization equipment.
- Clean and disinfect the equipment according to current standards.
- Assemble equipment and organize sterilized supply and instrument kits.
- Distribute equipment and kits to hospital departments.
Blood Collection Clinic Aids
- Assemble and disassemble the equipment.
- Prepare the collection areas and ensure their cleanliness.
- Maintain inventory of supplies.
- Record donor information and monitor them during the procedure.
- Provide post-donation care as directed and supervised by a nurse.
- Label and process the blood collected.
Morgue Attendants
- Assist pathologists during autopsies by arranging surgical instruments.
- Prepare organ and tissue preservation solutions.
- Transfer bodies from the morgue to the examination table.
- Collect organs and tissue samples, as indicated by the pathologist, and place them in preservation solutions.
- Clean and stitch up the bodies that will be given to the funeral home.
Ophthalmologist Assistants
- Examine and measure people’s visual acuity and record the results.
- Assist ophthalmologists during surgery.
- Administer drops, ointments, and prescribed ophthalmic medications.
- Clean and maintain instruments and equipment used in examinations.
- Record medical and ophthalmic history of individuals.
Hourly wage
The hourly wage is calculated by averaging wages from 2022 to 2024.- Minimum
- $17.00
- Median
- $22.86
- Maximum
- $26.44
Job prospects for 2024-2028
Les 2 champs de sélection ci-dessous vous permettent de comparer 2 régions. Les données des régions seront automatiquement mises à jour à la sélection. Par défaut, la province de Québec est sélectionnée pour la première région.
Job prospects for 2024-2028
Job prospects
All of Québec
Non available
All of Québec
Non available
Total jobs for 2023
All of Québec
7,000
All of Québec
na
Gender distribution
All of Québec
Not available.
- 75.3% Female
- 24.7% Male
Not available.
- 75.3% Female
- 24.7% Male
Job types
All of Québec
Not available.
- Full time
- Part time
Not available.
- Full time
- Part time
Yearly wage on 2020
All of Québec
$44,800
All of Québec
Other characteristics
All of Québec
- Non traditional for men
- None
All of Québec
- Non traditional for men
- None
Sectors of activity
All of Québec
Not available.
-
NAICS 621, 622, 62376% of jobs
-
NAICS 44, 4511% of jobs
-
NAICS 3392% of jobs
-
NAICS 6242% of jobs
-
NAICS 911% of jobs
-
Others8% of jobs
All of Québec
Not available.
-
NAICS 621, 622, 62376% of jobs
-
NAICS 44, 4511% of jobs
-
NAICS 3392% of jobs
-
NAICS 6242% of jobs
-
NAICS 911% of jobs
-
Others8% of jobs
Training and requirements
Formation
Most training programs are offered in French only.
Secondary
College
DCS in orthèses, prothèses et soins orthopédiques
Code : 144F0
Placement rate: 78.9%
10.5% of graduates pursue further studies
Sometimes required
- Knowledge of the existing computerized system may be required or an asset.
- Health care courses or college training related to the work of health care attendants (e.g. recreation training) may be required.
Main skills and characteristics
Skills
- Data collection
- Active listening
- Information processing
- Reading comprehension
- Oral expression
- Service oriented
- Social perception
- Coordination
- Teaching
- Result evaluation
- Critical thought
- Solving complex problems
- Written expression
- Time management
- Learning strategies
- Active learning
Abilities
- Speech recognition
- Oral comprehension
- Verbal skills
- Written comprehension
- Speech clarity
- Written expression
- Deductive reasoning
- Information organization
- Near vision
- Inductive reasoning
- Awareness of issues
- Classification
- Time sharing
Knowledge and attributes
- Capacity to establish and maintain interpersonal relations
- Autonomy
- Knowledge of customer and personalized services
- Capacity to work in a team
- Rigour
- Attention to detail
- Respect standards and regulations
- Sense of observation
- Availability
- Timeliness
Interests
- Make, build, install
- Work manually
- Collect, verify, sort, and classify data or information
- Assist or care for people
Personality profiles (RIASEC)
- Realistic
- People with this profile prefer carrying out concrete tasks and being physically involved in what they do.
- Conventional
- People with this profile prefer specific, well-defined tasks. They like to respect the order of things and follow established rules.
- Investigative
- People with this profile prefer relying on theoretical knowledge before acting. They like observation, analysis and problem solving.
Official name of the NOC 33109
Other assisting occupations in support of health services
Job titles
- Medical device reprocessing technician
- Audiometric assistant
- Ophthalmic assistant
- Orthopedic technologist
- Sterile processing technician
- Optical laboratory assistant
- Adjuvant
- Supply, processing and distribution aide - medical
- Blood donor clinic helper
- Plaster room aide
- Blood donor clinic assistant
- Central supply aide
- Clinic assistant - medical
- Clinical laboratory helper
- Acupuncture assistant
- Audiometric aide
- Chiropractic aide
- Occupational therapy aide
- Herbal medicine assistant
- Physiotherapy helper
- Sterile processing worker
- Radiology aide
- Rehabilitation aide
- Recreation aide - health services
- Health aide
- Therapy aide
- Chiropractor aide
- Ophthalmologist assistant
- Optometrist assistant
- Orthopedic physician assistant
- Certified ophthalmic assistant (coa)
- Surgical assistant
- Ophthalmic medical assistant
- Chiropractic assistant
- Autopsy assistant
- Chiropractic office assistant
- Surgical assistant - non-nursing
- Orthopedic assistant
- Optometric assistant
- Ophthalmic goods lens tinter
- Optical lens inspector
- Ophthalmic lens inspector
- Activationist - health support services
- Medical material handler
- Lens marker - health support services
- Lens marker - ophthalmic
- Ophthalmic lens marker
- Optical lab mechanic - retail
- Optical mechanic
- Optical lens grinder and polisher
- Ophthalmic lens grinder and polisher
- Ophthalmic lens edge grinder
- Ophthalmic lens grinder
- Polishing pad mounter
- Optical and ophthalmic goods lens picker
- Acupuncture attendant
- Emergency-entry attendant - hospital
- Blood donor clinic attendant
- Morgue attendant
- Emergency room attendant
- Fracture room attendant
- Activity aide - health support services
- Autopsy attendant
- Post-mortem attendant
- Blood sampling attendant
- Sterile supply room attendant
- Physical therapy attendant
- Senior adjuvant
- Lens grinder-polisher setter
- Ophthalmic lens grinder-polisher setter
- Instrument sterilizer - medical
- Central supply room supervisor - hospital
- Orthopedic supervisor
- Ophthalmic goods lens cutter
- Ophthalmic lens cutter
- Registered central service technician - medical
- Ophthalmic goods lens coating technician
- Morgue technician
- Cast room technician
- Autopsy technician
- Central supply room technician - hospital
- Ophthalmic goods antireflection (ar) coating technician
- Ophthalmic lab technician - retail
- Optical laboratory technician
- Optical laboratory technician - retail
- Audiometric technician
- Industrial audiometric technician
- Surgical technician - non-nursing
- Optical technician
- Optometric technician
- Orthopedic technician
- Registered orthopedic technologist
- Ophthalmic goods bench worker
- Ophthalmic lens bench worker
- Central service room worker - hospital
- Optical goods inspector
Skill type
Health
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Last update: January 29, 2026
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