What does a direct care professional do?
Direct care professional responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real direct care professional resumes:
- Help each individual patient accomplish their specific ISP goals on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
- Provide round the clock care alone with daily help of ADL's, transport consumers to and from appointments.
- Provide ongoing consultation and support to parents of students with autism and facilitate ongoing collaboration with parents and staff members.
- Provide services and supports to individuals with mental retardation and relate disabilities, head or spinal cord injuries, or autism.
- Provide caring and companionship to elderly and developmentally disable consumers and provide primary resident care and assistance with daily living activities.
- Preform necessary SCIP safety moves to prevent consumers from hurting themselves or others.
- Maintain HIPPA laws with confidential documentation.
- Facilitate exercise, vocational, arts-n-crafts, and daily living skills groups for consumers with DD.
Direct care professional skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Direct Care Professionals are proficient in ADL, Developmental Disabilities, and Mental Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Integrity, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Direct Care Professionals that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- ADL, 15%
Support Individuals with Disabilities with ADL's including but not limited to feeding, baths, bowel and bladder training.
- Developmental Disabilities, 13%
Support children and adults with developmental disabilities in achieving a lifetime of growth through exceptional care and innovative, individualized service.
- Mental Health, 7%
Provided services to adolescents with physical and/or mental health disabilities.
- Autism, 7%
Provide services and supports to individuals with mental retardation and related disabilities, head or spinal cord injuries, or autism.
- Direct Support, 6%
Provide direct support and medical care to individuals with mental and physical disabilities.
- Social Work, 5%
Worked closely with social worker to create individual goals and objectives for all children in care.
Most direct care professionals use their skills in "adl," "developmental disabilities," and "mental health" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential direct care professional responsibilities here:
Detail oriented. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a direct care professional to have is detail oriented. Their role and responsibilities require that "home health aides and personal care aides must adhere to specific rules and protocols and carefully follow instructions to help take care of clients." Direct care professionals often use detail oriented in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "fast pace, patient care, detail to paper work, clean and organized. "
Integrity. Many direct care professional duties rely on integrity. "home health aides and personal care aides should make clients feel comfortable when they tend to personal activities, such as helping a client bathe," so a direct care professional will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways direct care professional responsibilities rely on integrity: "administer medications as directed, establish rapport and trust with clients. "
Interpersonal skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of direct care professionals is interpersonal skills. This skill is critical to many everyday direct care professional duties, as "home health aides and personal care aides must work closely with clients." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "assisted residents with day-to-day activities and acted as a role model for positive interpersonal relationship with others. "
Physical stamina. direct care professional responsibilities often require "physical stamina." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "home health aides and personal care aides should be comfortable performing physical tasks." This resume example shows what direct care professionals do with physical stamina on a typical day: "direct patient care to geriatric residents, addressing all physical needs. "
The three companies that hire the most direct care professionals are:
- Peoples Services38 direct care professionals jobs
- ChildServe31 direct care professionals jobs
- Quality Home Care23 direct care professionals jobs
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Compare different direct care professionals
Direct care professional vs. Residential instructor
Health care providers are health professionals and health organizations offering health care treatment and diagnosis services. These professionals play significant roles with patients through consultation, treatment, and advice. The health care they provide is of different variations. They even perform other procedures depending on the needs of the patients. Their responsibilities include comprehensive care and specialist work. Also, they help in duties, medication, and housekeeping. They transport clients to and from errands, activities, and appointments.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a direct care professional are more likely to require skills like "social work," "compassion," "meal prep," and "dsp." On the other hand, a job as a residential instructor requires skills like "direct care," "direct supervision," "role model," and "behavioral health issues." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Residential instructors tend to make the most money working in the education industry, where they earn an average salary of $31,699. In contrast, direct care professionals make the biggest average salary, $29,735, in the government industry.On average, residential instructors reach similar levels of education than direct care professionals. Residential instructors are 1.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Direct care professional vs. Provider
School support staff provide specialized instructional and student support while utilizing school facilities. They often include diverse staff members whose main role is to ensure that students learn in a supportive and safe learning environment. It is also their duty to enhance school climate by promoting the involvement of parent and family in education as well as to encourage trusting, positive student relationships. They should inhibit positive behavior and send uplifting messages to students as they often connect with them throughout the day.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real direct care professional resumes. While direct care professional responsibilities can utilize skills like "autism," "direct support," "incident reports," and "behavior management," providers use skills like "patients," "healthcare," "customer service," and "cpr."
Providers earn a higher average salary than direct care professionals. But providers earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $55,214. Additionally, direct care professionals earn the highest salaries in the government with average pay of $29,735 annually.providers earn similar levels of education than direct care professionals in general. They're 3.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Direct care professional vs. Support staff
An attending, ambulatory care is responsible for providing patient care, supporting ongoing treatment of health issues, and managing recovery through coordinating with attending physicians or other medical professionals. They evaluate medical records, including history and consultation purposes, develop a necessary care plan, keep an accurate medical chart, and schedule laboratory tests and follow-up as needed. An attending, ambulatory care must have extensive knowledge of the medical principles and disciplines to monitor the patients' condition and observe medical measures.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, direct care professionals are more likely to have skills like "autism," "social work," "compassion," and "behavior management." But a support staff is more likely to have skills like "customer service," "meal preparation," "direct care," and "home maintenance."
Desk clerks supervisors earn the highest salary when working in the finance industry, where they receive an average salary of $32,113. Comparatively, direct care professionals have the highest earning potential in the government industry, with an average salary of $29,735.Most desk clerks supervisors achieve a similar degree level compared to direct care professionals. For example, they're 2.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Direct care professional vs. Attending, ambulatory care
Types of direct care professional
Updated January 8, 2025
