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.
35,520 people do this job in the US. $44,910 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 17%
- 0%
- 84%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 16%. Today's estimate: 17%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 17 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provide patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities with routine physical, emotional, psychological, or rehabilitation care under the direction of nursing or medical staff.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Organize, supervise, or encourage patient participation in social, educational, or recreational activities.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Complete physical checks and monitor patients to detect unusual or harmful behavior and report observations to professional staff.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 11% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Maintain patients' restrictions to assigned areas.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Work as part of a team that may include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, or social workers.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Participate in recreational activities with patients, including card games, sports, or television viewing.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Listen and provide emotional support and encouragement to psychiatric patients.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Serve meals or feed patients needing assistance or persuasion.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 33 min17 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Complete administrative tasks, such as entering orders into computer, answering telephone calls, or maintaining medical or facility information.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Record and maintain patient information, such as vital signs, eating habits, behavior, progress notes, treatments, or discharge plans.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Aid patients in becoming accustomed to hospital routines.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Provide patients with assistance in bathing, dressing, or grooming, demonstrating these skills as necessary.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals14,190 people
- State Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals6,260 people
- General Medical and Surgical Hospitals4,050 people
- Residential Intellectual and Developmental Disability, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Facilities3,780 people
- Offices of Other Health Practitioners1,320 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).