Abstract
Back ground: Health Care Assistants (HCA) emerged primarily to support the professional nurse and to undertake non-nursing duties under the supervision of qualified nurses. Recently unlicensed personnel have been used as substitutes for professional nurses. Aim of the study: To develop a job description for assistant nurses. Setting: The study was carried out at Assuit University Hospitals. Subjects and methods: The subjects included all head nurses working in the designated settings (n = 72) and 10% of the total assistant nurses (n = 40). Data collection tools: The data for the present study was collected using three different tools: a questionnaire sheet, an observation sheet (job analysis) and focus group discussion. Results: The present study revealed that there is no training program and orientation made for assistant nurses and there is no job description for them. There was congruency between the head nurses' opinions, job analysis and focus group discussion as regards indirect care, and environmental activities performed by assistant nurses. Recommendations: The researchers recommended a conduct training program for assistant nurses about infection control principles, communication skills, and nursing profession .Constant direct supervision by authoritative persons for assistant nurses should be established in the hospitals.