The Patient Care Technician (PCT) program provides hands-on assistance in serving the basic needs of patients in a hospital setting. The PCT will perform bathing, feeding catheter care, safety checks, and ensure patient room cleanliness. The PCT will also obtain EKG readings, monitor vital signs, and provide phlebotomy procedures. Ethical decision-making will provide patient-centered care and compassionate support to families.
The Patient Care Technician program will begin in Spring 2025. The program is designed to be completed within eight weeks and will be offered every semester.
Completion of the PCT program allows the student to sit for the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) accredited National Health Career Association (NHA) Certified Patient Care Technician Exam (CPCT). The student will sit for the exam at College of DuPage during the last week of the program.
Registration Information
Prospective students must follow specific registration criteria before being admitted into the program. Review the registration packet for more information.
Determine Your Path
Nursing teams will continue to need PCTs in the future. PCTs have various career paths to becoming a nurses aid, medical assistant, phlebotomist, EKG technician and more.
Whether you are interested in becoming a patient care technician, certified nursing assistant or continuing your education, COD can help you start. COD offers:
- Passionate instructors with years of working in the nursing field.
Patient Care Technician
The Patient Care Technician (PCT) Certificate teaches students how to provide hands-on assistance in serving the basic needs of patients in a hospital setting.
Get Started Today
The first step to getting started in the program is to read the registration packet. The packet contains a registration checklist that you will need to follow in order to be eligible to register for the class.
Academic and Career Pathways give you a roadmap to achieving your career goals. Follow a pathway based on your degree that outlines which classes you need to take and when so you graduate on time or move on to the next phase in your career.
Patient Care Technician graduates will:
- Define patient care technician scope of practice
- Summarize compliance, safety, and professional responsibility
- Demonstrate use of personal protective equipment while following standard precautions
- List common health care associated infections
- Outline the principles and practices of asepsis and sterile technique
- Demonstrate capillary punctures
- Demonstrate venipunctures with a winged infusion set, evacuated tube system, and syringe
- Analyze blood culture collection technique
- List order of draw for capillary and venipuncture collections
- Evaluate common adverse reactions to blood collection
- Summarize the handling and transportation of blood samples according to the Center for Disease Control guidelines
- Evaluate appropriate functioning of phlebotomy equipment
- Identify correct techniques for nonblood specimen collection, handling, and transport
- Analyze chain of custody guidelines
- Demonstrate the preparation of the patient and the application of 3-lead, 5-lead, and 12-lead electrode placement
- Identify signs and symptoms of cardiopulmonary compromise
- Evaluate artifacts from the tracing including wandering baseline, somatic, and electrical
- Identify characteristics of waveforms of a cardiac cycle to determine symmetry, direction, and amplitude
- Analyze response to a potentially life-threatening arrhythmia
- Evaluate electrocardiography machine paper speed and sensitivity
Career Information
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