CareAide PrepHCA scope of practice in Alberta
What a health care aide can and cannot do in Alberta. Scope questions appear across every domain of the exam, and one wording difference accounts for more wrong answers than any other.
The rule people get wrong
Competency 2.7 reads, in full:
“Provide medication assistance as assigned by a regulated health care professional.”
The word is assistance, not administration. An aide assists a client with medication when assigned to do so. An aide does not administer it, does not inject, does not adjust a dose, and does not decide what is given. On an exam, an option that has the aide administering, injecting or adjusting is almost always the wrong answer — it is the distractor the question is built around.
Working under supervision, to a care plan
Aides work under the supervision of a regulated professional and follow the client’s care plan. They observe, assist and report. They do not assess, diagnose, or make clinical judgments — reporting a change to the nurse is the aide’s job; deciding what the change means is not.
Language the exam uses
Alberta says responsive or changing behaviours. It does not say “BPSD” or “challenging behaviour”. If an option uses that framing, look closely at it.
Squarely in scope
- Assisting with activities of daily living, mobility and transfers.
- Safe body mechanics and client handling.
- Infection prevention and control.
- Safe food handling and mealtime assistance.
- Observing, reporting and documenting to employer standards.
- Recognising and reporting abuse and neglect — an explicit part of the Safety domain, not an optional extra.
The Competency Profile contains 50 competencies across six domains. The exam samples all of them.
Common questions
Can a health care aide give medication in Alberta?
An Alberta health care aide provides medication ASSISTANCE as assigned by a regulated health care professional. Competency 2.7 uses the word assistance, not administration: an aide does not administer medication, does not inject, does not adjust a dose and does not decide what is given.
What is outside a health care aide scope of practice in Alberta?
Alberta health care aides do not assess, diagnose or make clinical judgments, and do not administer or adjust medication. They observe, assist and report, working under the supervision of a regulated professional and following the client care plan.
What term does Alberta use for dementia-related behaviours?
Alberta uses the term responsive or changing behaviours. The Alberta HCA Competency Profile does not use BPSD or challenging behaviour.
Is reporting abuse part of the HCA role in Alberta?
Yes. Recognising and reporting abuse and neglect is an explicit part of the Safety domain in the Alberta HCA Competency Profile, not an optional extra.