Care partner vs direct care worker

The differences between care partners and direct care workers 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 $29,343 average annual salary of a direct care worker.

The top three skills for a care partner include patients, vital signs and care plan. The most important skills for a direct care worker are direct care, patients, and CPR.

Care partner vs direct care worker overview

	Care Partner	Direct Care Worker
Yearly salary	$31,723	$29,343
Hourly rate	$15.25	$14.11
Growth rate	36%	36%
Number of jobs	85,778	140,788
Job satisfaction	3	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 34%	High School Diploma, 32%
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 worker do?

A Direct Care Worker's responsibility revolves around overseeing clients' welfare and health care from different ages and conditions. Most of the duties will involve assistance in basic hygienic tasks such as bathing or going to the toilet, performing light chores such as preparing healthy meals and cleaning a bedroom, and ensuring the patient's medication intake aligns with the schedule. Furthermore, it is also the duty of a Direct Care Worker to empathize and build rapport with clients to make them feel more at ease.

Care partner vs direct care worker salary

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

	Care Partner	Direct Care Worker
Average salary	$31,723	$29,343
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $44,000	Between $23,000 And $36,000
Highest paying City	Great Falls, MT	Portland, ME
Highest paying state	Alaska	Washington
Best paying company	Mount Sinai Health System	Arizona Training & Evaluation Center
Best paying industry	Health Care	Professional

Differences between care partner and direct care worker education

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

	Care Partner	Direct Care Worker
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 34%	High School Diploma, 32%
Most common major	Nursing	Psychology
Most common college	-	-

Care partner vs direct care worker demographics

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

	Care Partner	Direct Care Worker
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 15.0% Female, 85.0%	Male, 23.4% Female, 76.6%
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, 12.6% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 13.7% Asian, 7.6% White, 61.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between care partner and direct care worker 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 worker example responsibilities.

Provide caring companionship to elderly and developmentally disable patients with or without chronic health diagnosis.
Assist individuals with developmental/intellectual disabilities with ADL's.
Conduct socialization groups to aid individuals in development of ADL and socialization skills.
Prepare daily documents administer medications handle patients hygiene house cleaning and provide transportation to and from appointment
Provide caring and companionship to elderly and developmentally disable consumers and provide primary resident care and assistance with daily living activities.
Provide day to day services that include transport, nutrition, hygiene, housekeeping and activities to MRDD clients.

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Care partner vs direct care worker skills

Common care partner skills

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

Common direct care worker skills

Direct Care, 22%
Patients, 11%
CPR, 7%
Developmental Disabilities, 4%
Crisis Intervention, 4%
Vital Signs, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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