What Does a Direct Care Worker Do?

In this section, we compare the average direct care worker annual salary with that of an aide. Typically, aides earn a $1,550 lower salary than direct care workers earn annually.

While their salaries may differ, one common ground between direct care workers and aides are a few of the skills required in each craft. In both careers, employees bring forth skills like direct care, patients, and cpr.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A direct care worker responsibility is more likely to require skills like "companionship," "mental health," "motor vehicle," and "intellectual disabilities." Whereas a aide requires skills like "compassion," "home health," "customer service," and "behavioral issues." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

Aides receive the highest salaries in the health care industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $27,848. But direct care workers are paid more in the professional industry with an average salary of $29,581.

The education levels that aides earn is a bit different than that of direct care workers. In particular, aides are 2.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a direct care worker. Additionally, they're 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Now we're going to look at the provider profession. On average, providers earn a $32,569 higher salary than direct care workers a year.

While the salary may be different for these job positions, there is one similarity and that's a few of the skills needed to perform certain duties. We used info from lots of resumes to find that both direct care workers and providers are known to have skills such as "direct care," "patients," and "cpr. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences that are worth noting. For example, direct care worker responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "crisis intervention," "intellectual disabilities," "alertness," and "direct support." Meanwhile, a provider might be skilled in areas such as "healthcare," "customer service," "social work," and "excellent interpersonal." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

It's been discovered that providers earn higher salaries compared to direct care workers, but we wanted to find out where providers earned the most pay. The answer? The health care industry. The average salary in the industry is $55,214. Additionally, direct care workers earn the highest paychecks in the professional with an average salary of $29,581.

In general, providers study at similar levels of education than direct care workers. They're 4.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The third profession we take a look at is residential instructor. On an average scale, these workers bring in higher salaries than direct care workers. In fact, they make a $352 higher salary per year.

While looking through the resumes of several direct care workers and residential instructors we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "direct care," "developmental disabilities," and "crisis intervention," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from direct care workers resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "patients," "cpr," "companionship," and "medication reminders." But a residential instructor might have skills like "autism," "data collection," "direct supervision," and "role model."

Additionally, residential instructors earn a higher salary in the education industry compared to other industries. In this industry, they receive an average salary of $31,699. Additionally, direct care workers earn an average salary of $29,581 in the professional industry.

When it comes to education, residential instructors tend to earn similar education levels than direct care workers. In fact, they're 2.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Now, we'll look at attendings, ambulatory care, who generally average a higher pay when compared to direct care workers annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $283 per year.

While their salaries may vary, direct care workers and attendings, ambulatory care both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "direct care," "patients," and "cpr. "

Each job requires different skills like "crisis intervention," "mental health," "motor vehicle," and "intellectual disabilities," which might show up on a direct care worker resume. Whereas attending, ambulatory care might include skills like "customer service," "good judgment," "rehabilitation," and "senior care."

In general, attendings, ambulatory care make a higher salary in the government industry with an average of $30,236. The highest direct care worker annual salary stems from the professional industry.

Attendings, ambulatory care reach similar levels of education when compared to direct care workers. The difference is that they're 0.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree more, and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.