Care partner vs direct support professional

The differences between care partners and direct support professionals can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a direct support professional has an average salary of $32,077, which is higher than the $31,723 average annual salary of a care partner.

The top three skills for a care partner include patients, vital signs and care plan. The most important skills for a direct support professional are direct support, developmental disabilities, and autism.

Care partner vs direct support professional overview

	Care Partner	Direct Support Professional
Yearly salary	$31,723	$32,077
Hourly rate	$15.25	$15.42
Growth rate	36%	36%
Number of jobs	85,778	142,034
Job satisfaction	3	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 34%	High School Diploma, 30%
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 support professional do?

Direct support professionals are responsible for taking care of patients with physical or mental limitations. They do a variety of tasks for their patients, such as doing household chores, running errands for them, cooking for them, feeding them, bathing and dressing them, and helping them with their medication, among others. They also provide their patients with companionship, accompanying their patients to appointments, providing emotional support, and being with their patients for the most part of the day. They should be familiar with their patients' prescribed medicines, meal plans, therapy schedules, and other items related to the betterment of the patients' condition. Direct support professionals help the patients overcome their challenges and assist them in acclimating themselves with their current environment.

Care partner vs direct support professional salary

Care partners and direct support professionals have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Care Partner	Direct Support Professional
Average salary	$31,723	$32,077
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $44,000	Between $18,000 And $54,000
Highest paying City	Great Falls, MT	Santa Clara, CA
Highest paying state	Alaska	California
Best paying company	Mount Sinai Health System	Meta
Best paying industry	Health Care	Government

Differences between care partner and direct support professional education

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

	Care Partner	Direct Support Professional
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 34%	High School Diploma, 30%
Most common major	Nursing	Psychology
Most common college	-	-

Care partner vs direct support professional demographics

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

	Care Partner	Direct Support Professional
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 15.0% Female, 85.0%	Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6%
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, 9.7% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 8.3% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between care partner and direct support professional 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.

Direct support professional example responsibilities.

Work with adults who have disabilities to help manage everyday tasks such as laundry, cooking, preparing groceries, etc.
Provide care to adults with intellectual & developmental disabilities while administering their medication via AMAP certification
Support the development of individuals with autism by promoting community involvement and performing exercises to strengthen their cognitive and social skills.
Assist with toileting, including urinals.
Maintain medical records according to all HIPPA guidelines.
Assist coordinator to train new DCW on assign shift.

Care partner vs direct support professional skills

Common care partner skills

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

Common direct support professional skills

Direct Support, 19%
Developmental Disabilities, 12%
Autism, 9%
Direct Care, 7%
DSP, 7%
Mental Health, 6%

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Personal Care and Attendants Industry
Care Partner
Care Partner vs Direct Support Professional

Updated January 8, 2025

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