Care associate vs home care attendant

The differences between care associates and home care attendants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a care associate has an average salary of $32,558, which is higher than the $26,059 average annual salary of a home care attendant.

The top three skills for a care associate include patients, vital signs and PCA. The most important skills for a home care attendant are patients, home health, and companionship.

Care associate vs home care attendant overview

	Care Associate	Home Care Attendant
Yearly salary	$32,558	$26,059
Hourly rate	$15.65	$12.53
Growth rate	9%	36%
Number of jobs	192,391	235,912
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 38%	Bachelor's Degree, 33%
Average age	42	48
Years of experience	3	-

What does a care associate do?

Patient care associates typically work at different healthcare settings where their primary job is to provide basic patient needs and comfort. They are also responsible for several patient care tasks, including bathing patients, changing the pillows and bedsheets of patients, and serving patients' meals. They should comply with safety protocols when performing these tasks. Some of them can give patients medication depending on the level of their training. To become a patient care specialist, one should possess several skills, such as good communication.

What does a home care attendant do?

A home care attendant is a health care worker whose primary job is to provide care and assistance to the elderly and people with disabilities. Your day-to-day duties will include monitoring and recording the condition of patients, performing housekeeping and laundry, and providing personal care services such as dressing and bathing. In addition, you will assist patients in caring for themselves by teaching them how to use a walker, cane, and personal hygiene equipment. As a home care attendant, you are also expected to adhere to asepsis procedures and standards to maintain a secure, healthy, and safe environment.

Care associate vs home care attendant salary

Care associates and home care attendants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Care Associate	Home Care Attendant
Average salary	$32,558	$26,059
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $48,000	Between $17,000 And $38,000
Highest paying City	Hollister, CA	Watertown Town, MA
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Alaska
Best paying company	Analysis Group	Dignity Health
Best paying industry	Health Care	Media

Differences between care associate and home care attendant education

There are a few differences between a care associate and a home care attendant in terms of educational background:

	Care Associate	Home Care Attendant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 38%	Bachelor's Degree, 33%
Most common major	Nursing	Nursing
Most common college	-	-

Care associate vs home care attendant demographics

Here are the differences between care associates' and home care attendants' demographics:

	Care Associate	Home Care Attendant
Average age	42	48
Gender ratio	Male, 22.3% Female, 77.7%	Male, 13.1% Female, 86.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 7.8% White, 62.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 8.0% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between care associate and home care attendant duties and responsibilities

Care associate example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
Provide direct care to patients in intensive care unit with empathy, compassion and enthusiasm.
Utilize strong interpersonal skills to educate patients on procedures, rehabilitation and contraception methods.
Care for patients requiring telemetry monitoring and work collaboratively with telemetry technician/nurses to detect and report abnormalities to physicians.
Coordinate with clinicians to meet the specific needs of patients and perform clinical care in an ICU.
Assign to new ER and ICU departments by leadership to maintain quality of patient care and increase patient satisfaction.

Home care attendant example responsibilities.

Manage clients bills, paid them, buy groceries, take complete care of their responsibilities.
Self-Direct and empower, providing hygiene care, hospice and respite care to Alzheimer's patients and patients requiring long-term assistance.
Provide companionship and conversation, stabilization, and assistance with walking, and providing medication and appointment reminders for assign patients.
Maintain all confidential personnel files and CPR compliance records.
Ensure that HHA's are trained to administer the required care.
Interview applicants for HHA training program, and general clerical duties and some front reception coverage.

Care associate vs home care attendant skills

Common care associate skills

Patients, 24%
Vital Signs, 11%
PCA, 7%
Phlebotomy, 7%
CPR, 7%
Customer Service, 5%

Common home care attendant skills

Patients, 19%
Home Health, 16%
Companionship, 14%
CPR, 6%
Meal Prep, 5%
Patient Care, 4%

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Healthcare Support Industry
Care Associate
Care Associate vs Home Care Attendant

Updated January 8, 2025

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