Home › Work activities › Operate diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment
O*NET detailed work activityOperate diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment
Stays humanHands-on care
26 jobs36 tasks
Physical care and clinical work need trained hands, close observation and a person who is accountable at the bedside or chairside.
Part of Operate medical equipment, under the O*NET work activity group Controlling Machines and Processes. Individual tasks below can carry a different label when their own wording calls for it (0 AI-ready, 2 AI-assist, 34 stays human).
Tasks built on this activity
- Use dental air turbines, hand instruments, dental appliances, or surgical implements.
- Administer prescribed doses of radiation to specific body parts, using radiation therapy equipment according to established practices and standards.
- Maintain an unobstructed operative field, using surgical retractors, sponges, or suctioning and irrigating equipment.
- Set up and operate devices, such as mechanical ventilators, therapeutic gas administration apparatus, environmental control systems, or aerosol generators, following specified parameters of treatment.
- Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses.
- Treat lower urinary tract dysfunctions using equipment such as diathermy machines, catheters, cystoscopes, or radium emanation tubes.
- Set up, operate, or monitor invasive equipment and devices, such as colostomy or tracheotomy equipment, mechanical ventilators, catheters, gastrointestinal tubes, and central lines.
- Insert peripheral or central intravenous catheters.
- Attach electrodes to the patients' chests, arms, and legs, connect electrodes to leads from the electrocardiogram (EKG) machine, and operate the EKG machine to obtain a reading.
- Perform approved therapeutic or diagnostic procedures, based upon patients' clinical status.
- Remove diseased tissue, using surgical instruments.
- Clamp, ligate, or cauterize blood vessels to control bleeding during surgical entry, using hemostatic clamps, suture ligatures, or electrocautery equipment.
- Connect physiological leads to physiological acquisition control (PAC) units.
Tasks where it is part of the work
- Measure and record lens power, using lensometers.
- Examine gums, using probes, to locate periodontal recessed gums and signs of gum disease.
- Examine teeth, gums, and related tissues, using dental instruments, x-rays, or other diagnostic equipment, to evaluate dental health, diagnose diseases or abnormalities, and plan appropriate treatments.
- Measure and record lens power, using lensometers.
- Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication.
- Administer hearing tests and examine patients to collect information on type and degree of impairment, using specialized instruments and electronic equipment.
- Conduct electrocardiogram (EKG), phonocardiogram, echocardiogram, stress testing, or other cardiovascular tests to record patients' cardiac activity, using specialized electronic test equipment, recording devices, or laboratory instruments.
- Perform basic screening procedures, such as pure tone screening, otoacoustic screening, immittance screening, and screening of ear canal status using otoscope.
- Assess refractive condition of eyes, using retinoscope.
- Operate equipment, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs), external defibrillators, or bag valve mask resuscitators, in advanced life support environments.
- Set up and monitor medical equipment and devices such as cardiac monitors, mechanical ventilators and alarms, oxygen delivery devices, transducers, or pressure lines.
- Operate, assemble, adjust, or monitor sterilizers, lights, suction machines, or diagnostic equipment to ensure proper operation.
- Set up, program, or record montages or electrical combinations when testing peripheral nerve, spinal cord, subcortical, or cortical responses.
- Administer treatment involving application of physical agents, using equipment, moist packs, ultraviolet or infrared lamps, or ultrasound machines.
- Administer hearing or speech and language evaluations, tests, or examinations to patients to collect information on type and degree of impairments, using written or oral tests or special instruments.
- Conduct stress tests, using electrocardiograph (EKG) machines.
- Assess refractive conditions of eyes, using retinoscopes.
- Assemble and use equipment, such as catheters, tracheotomy tubes, or oxygen suppliers.
- Take and record measures of patients' physical condition, using devices such as thermometers or blood pressure gauges.
- Measure oxygen consumption or lung functioning, using spirometers.
- Set up 24-hour Holter and event monitors, scan and interpret tapes, and report results to physicians.
- Conduct electrocardiogram (EKG), phonocardiogram, echocardiogram, or other cardiovascular tests to record patients' cardiac activity, using specialized electronic test equipment, recording devices, or laboratory instruments.
- Conduct tests of the pulmonary system, using a spirometer or other respiratory testing equipment.