Porters are valuable employees at hospitals across the world. Hospital porters assist doctors, nurses, and other hospital employees with a variety of different tasks. Porters help transport patients to different areas of the hospital, operate and repair medical equipment, and they clean and sanitize to make sure the hospital is operating in the most productive manner possible.

Job Prerequisites

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Hospital porters do not have to complete formal training. According to jobs4u.com, porters usually receive on-the-job training from more experienced workers. Most hospitals hire porters who possess a particular set of skills. Porters are expected to efficiently communicate with patients, nurses and doctors, as well as have high levels of energy and stamina. Porters must be quick on their feet and capable of solving a wide variety of problems as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Job Duties

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Porters perform numerous duties for hospitals. According to National Health Service Careers, an information service for people interested in health-care jobs in the United Kingdom, porters help transport ill patients and valuable medical equipment to different areas of the hospital, and perform general maintenance activities.

"Hospital Porter Career Details," an article from careerdirections.ie, discusses a porter's varied, strenuous and often chaotic workload. Porters are expected to transport blood samples, sort laundry and comfort distressed relatives. Porters also serve as valuable assistants to nurses. Porters help nurses remove waste from patients' rooms, clean trolleys and run errands.

Salary and Benefits

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According to jobs4u.com, hospitals porters in the United Kingdom earn between £13,233 and £18,157 a year. In the United States, on average, hospital porters receive between $19,280 and $26,331 a year. Although porters' salaries are not as attractive as the wages earned by the doctors and nurses they work beside, porters receive a fair amount of money without having to obtain a college degree.

Porters receive a number of benefits in addition to their salary. Porters can be promoted to health-care assistants and many porters use their experience to prepare for a career as a nurse or doctor. Many porters also use their experience to pursue a career working on an ambulance. Porters also serve as managers and help train prospective employees.