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OverviewNature of WorkKnowledge AreasSkills Utilized
Job ActivitiesAbilitiesJob ConditionsWork SatisfactionEducation/Training

Common Tasks

1.Conform to laws of health and sanitation, and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met.
2.Apply cosmetics to impart lifelike appearance to the deceased.
3.Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs.
4.Close incisions, using needles and sutures.
5.Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using derma-surgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of paris, and wax.
6.Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump.
7.Dress bodies and place them in caskets.
8.Perform the duties of funeral directors, including coordinating funeral activities.
9.Join lips, using needles and thread or wire.
10.Conduct interviews to arrange for the preparation of obituary notices, to assist with the selection of caskets or urns, and to determine the location and time of burials or cremations.
11.Attach trocar to pump-tube, start pump, and repeat probing to force embalming fluid into organs.
12.Perform special procedures necessary for remains that are to be transported to other states or overseas, or where death was caused by infectious disease.
13.Maintain records such as itemized lists of clothing or valuables delivered with body and names of persons embalmed.
14.Insert convex celluloid or cotton between eyeballs and eyelids to prevent slipping and sinking of eyelids.
15.Wash and dry bodies, using germicidal soap and towels or hot air dryers.
16.Arrange for transporting the deceased to another state for interment.
17.Supervise funeral attendants and other funeral home staff.
18.Pack body orifices with cotton saturated with embalming fluid to prevent escape of gases or waste matter.
19.Assist with placing caskets in hearses, and organize cemetery processions.
20.Serve as pallbearers, attend visiting rooms, and provide other assistance to the bereaved.
21.Direct casket and floral display placement and arrange guest seating.
22.Arrange funeral home equipment and perform general maintenance.
23.Assist coroners at death scenes or at autopsies, file police reports, and testify at inquests or in court, if employed by a coroner.
24.Press diaphragm to evacuate air from lungs.

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