Who is a GDA (General Duty Assistant)?
A General Duty Assistant is a medical official who provides end-to-end medical-related services to every type of medical institution. They assist the doctors and the nurses. They are responsible for taking dedicated care of the patients, looking after them 24/7, and ensuring an easy and stressless life for them.
A General Duty assistant is a professional who works dedicatedly for the patients, they provide medical attention to them when in need. A GDA’s primary task is to take full care of a patient – giving them medications, assisting them with food, putting their drips, giving them injections and even transporting them to washrooms or different wards.
They are responsible for providing proficient assistance to medical experts as well. Tasks like sterilizing the equipment, keeping them ready, and handing them to the doctors are done by General Duty assistants only. In complex situations like operations or emergencies, GDAs play a major role in helping doctors.
They also perform administrating tasks and maintain records, they are responsible for conducting admission and discharge formalities like coordinating with families and assisting them in fulfilling the formalities. Along with this they maintain records as well, patient records, their medical history, and every other task.
A General Duty Assistant is supposed to be attentive, in case of emergencies they are the first point of contact for the patient. This is why a General Duty Assistant must have quick reflexes.
They also provide clinical support for example measuring blood pressure, checking temperature, giving injections, putting drips, and collecting blood samples. By doing all of these vital tasks for medical administration, a GDA ensures the safety of a patient and makes them feel at home at a hospital.
Who is a GDA (General Duty Assistant)?
A General Duty Assistant is a medical official who provides end-to-end medical-related services to every type of medical institution. They assist the doctors and the nurses. They are responsible for taking dedicated care of the patients, looking after them 24/7, and ensuring an easy and stressless life for them.
A General Duty assistant is a professional who works dedicatedly for the patients, they provide medical attention to them when in need. A GDA’s primary task is to take full care of a patient – giving them medications, assisting them with food, putting their drips, giving them injections and even transporting them to washrooms or different wards.
They are responsible for providing proficient assistance to medical experts as well. Tasks like sterilizing the equipment, keeping them ready, and handing them to the doctors are done by General Duty assistants only. In complex situations like operations or emergencies, GDAs play a major role in helping doctors.
They also perform administrating tasks and maintain records, they are responsible for conducting admission and discharge formalities like coordinating with families and assisting them in fulfilling the formalities. Along with this they maintain records as well, patient records, their medical history, and every other task.
A General Duty Assistant is supposed to be attentive, in case of emergencies they are the first point of contact for the patient. This is why a General Duty Assistant must have quick reflexes.
They also provide clinical support for example measuring blood pressure, checking temperature, giving injections, putting drips, and collecting blood samples. By doing all of these vital tasks for medical administration, a GDA ensures the safety of a patient and makes them feel at home at a hospital.
GDA Nursing Course- Career Opportunities and Salary
Keeping the high demand for the GDA career, there are a lot of GDA courses available in the market. Mainly there are two types of GDA nursing courses – Online General Duty Assistant Course and Offline General Duty Assistant Course.
These GDA courses are made to provide the needed knowledge to the students who want to become professional GDA. They follow a comprehensive approach by focusing on providing maximum value to the students. They offer theoretical as well as practical training during the course.
Topics like providing nursing care, patient care, exploring hospitals, Record Management, Fundamental Aspects, Healthcare Institutions, General Health, etc are taught in these courses to equip the students with the required skill set to get a job in any medical institution.
Career Opportunities
According to The Economic Times India’s Healthcare sector is experiencing a growth of 12.59% in the year 2024-25. This was possible because of the investment of Rs 90,658.63 crore in the interim Budget by the Union Health Ministry.
Our healthcare sector has been growing since the year 2016, the graphs show an annual growth of (CAGR) 22 percent representing the endless number of job opportunities in the field. Our hospital market was valued at USD 98.98 billion in 2023 and is experiencing a growth of about CAGR of 8.0 percent in the year 2024. The market is predicted to reach USD 193.59 billion by the year 2032.
The healthcare sector will see massive growth this year (2024). The hiring rate will increase up to 15-20 percent, leading to a promising increase in the number of job openings.
These stats are proof showing the number of opportunities available in the Healthcare sector of India. Keeping these in mind you can easily get a job in medical institutions like:
- Hospitals and Clinics: Hospitals and Clinics are the prime locations where the General Duty assistants are posted for their duties. A professional General Duty Assistant is an essential part of a hospital or a clinic, as they are responsible for providing end-to-end care to the patients and also assisting the medical experts.
- Nursing Homes: Nursing homes or old age homes require GDAs to take close care of the patients. The patients in these places patients are mostly old which makes it hard for them to do daily tasks as well. This is where General Duty Assistants are needed. They help those patients in eating, bathing, making movements, and even transportation.
- At-home Services: When a patient is at their own home but still needs professional medical attention they hire or employ a General Duty Assistant. Which means taking care of a patient at their own house rather than in the hospital. A general Duty assistant goes to the house of the patient, offers them close and personalized medical attention, and then leaves.
- School and Colleges: Schools and Colleges also need General DUty assistants for the students. The presence of a lot of people in one place can lead to an unfortunate incident. In these places, General Duty Assistants are needed to provide first aid to the students in case of emergency and also provide them medical attention if they get sick on the premises.
- Military: The military is a place that is prone to casualties and injuries. Every base camp has a doctor to provide medical attention to the soldiers and along with a doctor, a General Duty Assistant is also deployed to assist the doctor and also do various medical tasks like providing first aid, dressing, collecting samples, and checking blood pressure and temperature.
Because of the versatile and highly performing profile, A General Duty Assistant is a reputed job and it opens doors to endless opportunities for long years.
Salary Structure of a General Duty Assistant:
There is no fixed salary for a General Duty Assistant though an average salary can be calculated. Irrespective of the sector salaries always depend on three factors that are experience, skill set, and location.
Below is an average salary structure of a General Duty Assistant in India:
- Fresher-level: 15000-25000 a month according to the skills and knowledge about the profession. Locations are also one of the factors.
- Mid-level: 35000-45000 per month (4-9 years of experience) can be negotiated depending on the experience and skills.
- Experienced: People who have gained experience of about 10 years or more can earn more.
Benefits of doing a GDA (General Duty Assistant) Course
- Skill Development: In these GDA courses, the main focus is on skill development. Being a GDA is not just about books having practical skills and experience is vital for the future. These courses provide both theoretical and practical knowledge making you an ideal candidate for job openings. Skills like providing nursing aids, patient care, exploring hospitals, Record Management, Fundamental Aspects, Healthcare Institutions, General Health, etc are taught in these GDA courses. These are the required skills to land any General Duty Assistant Job.
- High Demand: As the stats show our healthcare market is on a hike experiencing about 22 percent growth every year. These numbers represent the increase in job openings our healthcare sector will produce each year. There will more jobs each year which clearly states the need for General Duty Assistants. Being in a high-demand job profile, pursuing a GDA course can be beneficial for your career.
- Career Growth: If the medical sector is your dream then the General Duty Assistant course can help you achieve a flourishing career. As seen in the report by The Economic Times, India’s Healthcare sector has been growing since 2016 and growing by a CAGR of 8.0 percent each year. Which represents the number of career growth opportunities available in the field.
- Short Duration and Affordable: The GDA nursing courses are comparatively short-timed than other diplomas or degrees. Being of less duration they are also affordable as they charge comparatively less fees. This saves time and money.
- Personal and professional growth: If you take a General Duty Assistant course you don’t just gain professional skills you also earn personal traits like moral values, patience, and love which grow you as a human and teach you to take care of yourself as well. This creates room for both personal and professional growth. This was all about the GDA course if you want to be a General Duty Assistant do not waste your time go for it!
Frequently Ask Questions (FAQ)
A General Duty Assistant assists the nurses, nurses are often responsible for doing more complex tasks than the GDAs. To become a GDA you can take a short period of the training course and start working, unlike Nursing asks for either a bachelor’s or an accredited training program.
The Nurses are responsible for wider tasks like complex medical procedures, and providing education regarding the procedures. The GDAs are responsible for minor and daily tasks like bathing, feeding, etc.
Being a General Duty Assistant you must have the needed skills. A person should be personally and professionally skilled to become a professional GDA. Below are the skills that a person should have:
- Physically and Mentally Fit
- Patience
- Strong Morals
- Quick reflexes
Apart from professional skills, these are some moral and mental skills, one must have to become professionally strong.
The job of a General Duty Assistant is very exhausting and rewarding at the same time. This job can be physically challenging as you might have to run from floor to floor in emergencies. This job even puts mental stress on an individual as taking close care of patients and being in an environment where everybody is sick and people are dying can cause severe effects on the mental health of an individual.
In order to become a General Duty assistant you must be at least 18 years of age. You should be the 12th pass from a reputed board and you should have completed a General Duty Assistant course if you want to work as a professional full-time General Duty Assistant.
