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Healthcare · Helping & Teaching

Nurse aide: what the job actually is

Doing the basic, hands-on care of patients so nurses and physicians can do the parts only they can do.

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Nurse aide: quick facts

Nurse aide salary in Ontario: the median pay is $24.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is good. The job usually needs a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training.

Median pay in Ontario
$24.00 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$19.49 to $30.00 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Good
People working in it in Ontario
108,050
Usually needs
Usually a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 33102. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Job Bank describes this group as people who assist nurses, hospital staff and physicians in the basic care of patients. The titles in it include nurse aide, orderly, health care aide, patient service associate and psychiatric aide.
  • The listed duties are very physical and very ordinary: answering call signals, bathing and grooming patients, serving meals, weighing, lifting, turning and positioning patients, monitoring vital signs, and transporting patients.
  • It also includes keeping patient rooms and equipment in order, and giving first aid in an emergency. You are one of the people who is physically there when something goes wrong.
  • Job Bank lists hospitals, nursing homes, assisted care facilities for the elderly and other health care establishments as the places this group works. Its own outlook text names nursing and residential care facilities as the largest employer.
  • It is a different Job Bank group from personal support workers (see the personal support worker page). The work overlaps a lot, but the group is counted separately and the job titles differ, so read the posting rather than the title.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 6:45 — Report from the night shift. Who fell, who did not sleep, who is going for a test this morning, and who needs two people to move.
  2. 7:15 — Morning care. Washing, dressing, changing beds. You have a list and a clock and a person who would like to do this at their own speed.
  3. 8:30 — Breakfast trays out, and you stay while someone who struggles to swallow eats, because feeding is not a task you can hurry.
  4. 9:30 — Vital signs round. You write the numbers down, and you tell the nurse about the one that looks wrong instead of assuming somebody saw it.
  5. 10:45 — Transport. A patient to imaging in a wheelchair, and a conversation on the way that is the longest anyone has had with them today.
  6. 12:00 — Lunch trays, then a quick one of your own, standing up.
  7. 13:00 — Repositioning, mobility, and tidying a room that was clean an hour ago. The call bell goes four times before two o'clock.
  8. 14:30 — A patient is unwell in a way the chart does not show yet. You press the call button and stay with them.
  9. 15:30 — Stock the supply room and wipe down equipment. Nobody thanks you for the thing that was where it should be.
  10. 15:45 — Handover. Say what changed, in order, and go home with your feet aching.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You want to be useful to a person right now, in a way you could explain to a stranger in one sentence.
  • Bodies, bodily fluids and the unglamorous parts of care do not shock you.
  • You can stay calm when somebody is frightened, confused, in pain or upset with you.
  • You like being part of a team where the nurse, the physician and you each have a different piece of the same person.
  • You want to find out whether health care is for you before committing years to a longer programme.
You may hate this if
  • You do not want to lift, turn and position people for most of a shift. Job Bank lists lifting, turning and positioning as core duties, and your back keeps the score.
  • Rushing would bother you. You are often handling the most personal part of someone's day on a schedule that does not leave room for it.
  • You hate being the one who does what the nurse decides. You observe and report, and the clinical decisions are somebody else's.
  • Shift work, weekends and holidays would not fit your life. Hospitals and care homes do not close.
  • You cannot stand watching people decline. Many of the people in your care will not get better, and some will die on your shift.
  • You want a career ladder inside this job. Moving up generally means more schooling, for example nursing.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. A secondary school diploma, then training

    Job Bank says the requirement is some secondary school education plus on-the-job training, or completion of a college programme in personal support, nursing aide or health care aide with supervised practical training. Employers decide which of those they accept, so check the posting.

  2. CPR and first aid

    Job Bank says completion of specialised courses such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid is usually required. You can often get these before you leave high school, and they are the cheapest piece of this route.

  3. A college certificate if you want the strongest start

    Ontario's personal support worker certificate is offered through publicly assisted colleges, career colleges, district school boards and Indigenous Institutes. ontario.ca says it takes between 5 and 8 months, and that students in a district school board programme have their tuition covered. Whether a particular employer accepts that certificate for a nurse aide posting is the employer's call.

  4. Check whether the role you are applying for is regulated

    Job Bank's requirements page for this group says licensing in Ontario varies and tells you to contact the regulatory authority for specific steps. We could not read a single rule that covers every job title here, so ask the employer, in writing, before you pay for anything.

  5. Use it as a doorway if you want more

    Many people work in a role like this while deciding on practical nursing or nursing. The registered practical nurse and registered nurse pages explain those routes and how different the scope of the work is.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates: requirements in Ontario · NOC 2021 — Unit group 33102 profile · Ontario — Become a personal support worker · Job Bank — Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates: Ontario wage report

The money

Nurse aide salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$19.49
Low (hourly)
$24.00
Median (hourly)
$30.00
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 33102. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Nurse aide wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Good4 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
  • A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Investments in long-term care homes
  • Increased need for health-related services to support the growing and aging population in Ontario
  • Funding for hospitals and mental health services

Who hires for it

  • Majority employed in nursing and residential care facilities
  • Home healthcare service providers, hospitals, and individual and family services are also key employers
108,050
people work in this job in Ontario
88%
are women (48% across all jobs)
5%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates job prospects in Ontario (NOC 33102). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take a first aid and CPR course. Job Bank says employers usually want both, and the course also tells you how you react when something goes wrong.
  • Volunteer somewhere that involves real care, such as a long-term care home or hospital volunteer programme, and ask for the ordinary shift rather than a one-off event. Your hours can count toward the community involvement requirement.
  • Ask your guidance office whether your school or board offers co-op placements in health care or a personal support worker programme through the board.
  • Spend real time helping an older relative or neighbour with practical things more than once. It is the nearest free version of the job.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Spend two hours doing the practical part of care

About 110 minutes
  1. Find your nearest hospital or long-term care home and read its volunteer page. Note what the volunteer role actually involves and whether it is open to your age.
  2. Phone or email the volunteer office and ask one question: what do volunteers do on a unit during a normal shift, and can a student start. You are not asking for a job.
  3. Help a relative or neighbour with something practical and physical for an hour: carrying shopping, setting up a table, getting a heavy item down the stairs. Notice whether you offered help before it was asked for.
  4. Write down what bothered you and what you did not mind. Be specific about whether any of it was the physical part, the personal part or the pace.

What it tells you. If you came away wanting more of the practical, hands-on part and the unglamorous bits did not put you off, this is a real fit and a short, sensible way to find out about health care from the inside. If you found yourself looking for the way out, that is a clear answer and a cheap one. Better to know now than after a programme.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What does a normal shift look like on your unit, and how many patients are you responsible for?”
  2. “Which part of the job is hardest on your body?”
  3. “What did your training actually prepare you for, and what did you only learn on the job?”
  4. “Did your employer ask for a college certificate, or did they train you themselves?”
  5. “What do you do on the shift where somebody dies?”
  6. “Would you tell a 17-year-old to start here, or somewhere else first?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Not as this job. The group Job Bank counts is mostly employed in hospitals, nursing homes and care facilities, and the work is done as part of a clinical team. Some people go from here to private home care or an agency later, but that is a different business with its own rules, and the personal support worker page covers that side.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a nurse aide make in Ontario?

The median pay for a nurse aide in Ontario is $24.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $19.49 to $30.00 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a nurse aide in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as good for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to several new positions. A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a nurse aide in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training. The usual route in Ontario, in order: A secondary school diploma, then training; CPR and first aid; A college certificate if you want the strongest start.

Where does a nurse aide work in Ontario?

Majority employed in nursing and residential care facilities. Home healthcare service providers, hospitals, and individual and family services are also key employers. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as a nurse aide in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 108,050 people working in this job in Ontario. 88% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Where people come from

Which programs lead here?

In the 2021 Census, this job is one of the 12 most common for graduates of these programs. Each page shows what else they do, and which of those jobs have openings.

Health careers in Ontario: outlook and pay What can you do with your degree?

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

If this appeals, look at these too

personal support worker registered practical nurse registered nurse medical office assistant

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.