AI exposure: Orderlies
Transport patients to areas such as operating rooms or x-ray rooms using wheelchairs, stretchers, or moveable beds. May maintain stocks of supplies or clean and transport equipment. Psychiatric orderlies are included in Psychiatric Aides.
Reading this score
computedOrderlies is among the least exposed occupations measured, at 7.6% of weighted task load, rank 835 of 923. 90.2% of this job is work current AI systems cannot produce at all. That is not a statement about skill or value. It is a statement about what these systems can and cannot do.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 22 tasks it averages 2.73 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Carry messages or documents between departments, at 83.3%. The least is Serve or collect food trays, at 0.0%. A gap of 83.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within healthcare support occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 12.0% across the group's 19 roles, with 16 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 22 tasks, 2 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 20 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.36 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.73 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.66 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.43 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.09 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.57 | 0-3 |
Task by task
22 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carry messages or documents between departments. | 83.3% | 16.7% | 0.0% | 4.06 | exposed |
| Answer patient call signals, signal lights, bells, or intercom systems to determine patients' needs. | 70.0% | 17.5% | 12.5% | 3.78 | exposed |
| Respond to emergency situations, such as emergency medical calls, security calls, or fire alarms. | 2.5% | 10.0% | 87.5% | 4.34 | untouched |
| Lift or assist others to lift patients to move them on or off beds, examination tables, surgical tables, or stretchers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.83 | untouched |
| Transport patients to treatment units, testing units, operating rooms, or other areas, using wheelchairs, stretchers, or moveable beds. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.73 | untouched |
| Disinfect or sterilize equipment or supplies, using germicides or sterilizing equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.72 | untouched |
| Clean equipment, such as wheelchairs, hospital beds, or portable medical equipment, documenting needed repairs or maintenance. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.71 | untouched |
| Change soiled linens, such as bed linens, drapes, or cubicle curtains. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.32 | untouched |
| Transport portable medical equipment or medical supplies between rooms or departments. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.93 | untouched |
| Clean and sanitize patient rooms, bathrooms, examination rooms, or other patient areas. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.31 | untouched |
| Collect and transport infectious or hazardous waste in closed containers for sterilization or disposal, in accordance with applicable law, standards, or policies. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.31 | untouched |
| Transport specimens, laboratory items, or pharmacy items, ensuring proper documentation and delivery to authorized personnel. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.26 | untouched |
| Collect soiled linen or trash. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.19 | untouched |
| Provide physical support to patients to assist them to perform daily living activities, such as getting out of bed, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, standing, walking, or exercising. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.18 | untouched |
| Separate collected materials for disposal, recycling, or reuse, in accordance with environmental policies. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.18 | untouched |
| Restrain patients to prevent violence or injury or to assist physicians or nurses to administer treatments. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.16 | untouched |
| Turn or reposition bedridden patients, alone or with assistance, to prevent bedsores. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.06 | untouched |
| Position or hold patients in position for surgical preparation. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.89 | untouched |
| Stock utility rooms, nonmedical storage rooms, or cleaning carts with supplies. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.81 | untouched |
| Stock or issue medical supplies, such as dressing packs or treatment trays. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.78 | untouched |
| Transport bodies to the morgue. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.78 | untouched |
| Serve or collect food trays. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.38 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.