Care partner vs direct care staffer

The differences between care partners and direct care staffers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a care partner has an average salary of $31,723, which is higher than the $30,480 average annual salary of a direct care staffer.

The top three skills for a care partner include patients, vital signs and care plan. The most important skills for a direct care staffer are mental health, developmental disabilities, and CPR.

Care partner vs direct care staffer overview

	Care Partner	Direct Care Staffer
Yearly salary	$31,723	$30,480
Hourly rate	$15.25	$14.65
Growth rate	36%	36%
Number of jobs	85,778	117,658
Job satisfaction	3	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 31%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	-	-

What does a care partner do?

A care partner is in charge of taking care of patients in a medical facility. Their responsibilities typically revolve around coordinating with health care experts to learn about the patients' specific care plans and assisting them in their daily hygienic tasks such as bathing, dressing, and going to toilets. They may also help patients when walking or moving around. Furthermore, as a care partner, it is essential to provide emotional support to patients and monitor their progress, reporting to nurses or doctors regularly.

What does a direct care staffer do?

A Direct Care Staffer specializes in providing personal care and supervision to the disabled or elderly. Among the responsibilities include administering medication, managing schedules, assisting in hygienic tasks, preparing meals, and doing light to moderate household chores. Furthermore, A Direct Care Staffer also helps in transportation and preparation of daily meals, running various errands, purchasing groceries and daily necessities, and as well as monitoring health conditions. It is also essential for a Daily Care Staffer to update supervisors and guardians regularly.

Care partner vs direct care staffer salary

Care partners and direct care staffers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Care Partner	Direct Care Staffer
Average salary	$31,723	$30,480
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $44,000	Between $19,000 And $47,000
Highest paying City	Great Falls, MT	Salem, OR
Highest paying state	Alaska	Oregon
Best paying company	Mount Sinai Health System	New York University
Best paying industry	Health Care	Manufacturing

Differences between care partner and direct care staffer education

There are a few differences between a care partner and a direct care staffer in terms of educational background:

	Care Partner	Direct Care Staffer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 31%
Most common major	Nursing	Psychology
Most common college	-	-

Care partner vs direct care staffer demographics

Here are the differences between care partners' and direct care staffers' demographics:

	Care Partner	Direct Care Staffer
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 15.0% Female, 85.0%	Male, 27.5% Female, 72.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.0% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 17.5% Asian, 8.7% White, 56.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%	Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 57.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between care partner and direct care staffer duties and responsibilities

Care partner example responsibilities.

Manage CMS, state, and complaint surveys.
Manage shelterpractices and evaluate various volunteering, outreach, foster, rescue, and pet placement programs.
Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
Direct motion capture shoots for adding more animation to existing characters for crowd simulation.
Comfort care and ADL's, including range of motion exercises and encouraging early mobility in post-op patients.
Work on the Neurosurgery/Neuroscience unit caring for step down patients from the ICU, seizure patients and stroke patient.

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Direct care staffer example responsibilities.

Provide and care for highly volatile patients, administering CPI when require.
Train and supervise individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.
Assist consumers in development and maintenance of adaptive daily living skills.
Maintain client and community safety through appropriate application of CPI NVCI training.
Assist residence with disabilities, by bathing them, feeding and showing compassion.
Work with Kronos (timekeeping system) and making schedules for the DSP.

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Care partner vs direct care staffer skills

Common care partner skills

Patients, 17%
Vital Signs, 9%
Care Plan, 6%
Medication Administration, 5%
CPR, 5%
Customer Service, 4%

Common direct care staffer skills

Mental Health, 14%
Developmental Disabilities, 8%
CPR, 8%
Patients, 6%
Autism, 6%
Crisis Intervention, 5%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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