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.
Direct support professional responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real direct support professional resumes:
- 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.
- Assist in the teaching of math, reading and money skills.
- Monitor DCW staff on assign shift for completion of shift responsibilities.
- Assist with toileting, including bedpans, urinals, and commode chairs.
- Ensure that every DCP complete their duties before the shift are over.
- Train the individuals to improve and/or develop self-help, socialization and adaptive skills.
- Follow resident care policies and procedures including HIPAA laws when working with each resident.
- Provide appropriate medical and physical care including administration of medications, first aid and CPR.
- Record client information on special flow sheets, accurately indicating suicidal precautions, sleep flow and restraints ..
- Train in catheter care, using feeding tubes, administering insulin shots and blood sugar monitoring.
Direct support professional skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Direct Support Professionals are proficient in Direct Support, Developmental Disabilities, and Autism. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Integrity, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Direct Support Professionals that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Direct Support, 19%
Direct Support Professional: Responsible for the care and supervision of children and adolescent residential clients with intellectual disabilities.
- Developmental Disabilities, 12%
Support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities
- Autism, 9%
Direct care of adolescent with disabilities (dual conditioned Autism & Down Syndrome): Bath routine/Oral Hygiene/Dressing/Meal Preparation/Transport/Medicine administration/Community outings
- Direct Care, 7%
Provide direct care to individuals with psychiatric and mental retardation population in a residential setting followed with community integration.
- DSP, 7%
Achieved company Outstanding Performance award based on DSP code performance during successful demonstration, meeting FCC accuracy requirements.
- Mental Health, 6%
Provide intensive supervision and therapeutic services to youth with disruptive behavior, mental health and intellectual disabilities in a residential setting.
Common skills that a direct support professional uses to do their job include "direct support," "developmental disabilities," and "autism." You can find details on the most important direct support professional responsibilities below.
Detail oriented. One of the key soft skills for a direct support professional to have is detail oriented. You can see how this relates to what direct support professionals do because "home health aides and personal care aides must adhere to specific rules and protocols and carefully follow instructions to help take care of clients." Additionally, a direct support professional resume shows how direct support professionals use detail oriented: "maintained accurate and detailed records of patient care and services. "
Integrity. Many direct support 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 support professional will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways direct support professional responsibilities rely on integrity: "provide one on one care while demonstrating sound communication skills, integrity, patience and compassion. "
Interpersonal skills. direct support professionals are also known for interpersonal skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to direct support professional responsibilities, because "home health aides and personal care aides must work closely with clients." A direct support professional resume example shows how interpersonal skills is used in the workplace: "assist residents with independent living skills, interpersonal skills, budgeting, and hygiene routines. "
Physical stamina. A big part of what direct support professionals do relies on "physical stamina." You can see how essential it is to direct support professional responsibilities because "home health aides and personal care aides should be comfortable performing physical tasks." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical direct support professional tasks: "provided assistance in employment, supported living, physical therapy routines, recreation and medication to individuals with disabilities"
The three companies that hire the most direct support professionals are:
- Pediatric Partners, now a member of the Sevita family961 direct support professionals jobs
- National Mentor Holdings Inc.
814 direct support professionals jobs
- YAI588 direct support professionals jobs
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Compare different direct support professionals
Direct support professional vs. Residential instructor
A residential aide is responsible for assisting residents and patients in a community facility, supporting them in their daily activities and personal routines. Residential aides monitor the patients' health conditions, coordinate with medical professionals, and ensure that they receive the proper medications. They also assist the residents with their inquiries and concerns, as well as developing community programs and events, sustaining the healthy welfare of the citizens. A residential aide must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially when communicating with management and other organizations for assistance on charity works.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between direct support professionals and residential instructor. For instance, direct support professional responsibilities require skills such as "dsp," "home health," "compassion," and "home management." Whereas a residential instructor is skilled in "data collection," "direct supervision," "role model," and "behavioral health issues." This is part of what separates the two careers.
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 support professionals make the biggest average salary, $29,464, in the government industry.The education levels that residential instructors earn slightly differ from direct support professionals. In particular, residential instructors are 2.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a direct support professional. Additionally, they're 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Direct support professional vs. Residential aide
A Hair Stylist's role is to provide services such as haircuts, treatments, coloring, styling, and even maintenance. Most of the time, the clients choose which style or treatment they would prefer, which is why a Hair Stylist must have extensive knowledge and keep up the current trends in Hair Styling. Moreover, a Hair Stylist can also recommend styling and treatments that would suit the client, even sell Hair Care products. Aside from providing quality service, it is also essential for a Hair Stylist to build rapport with clients to ensure customer satisfaction and have a robust client base.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real direct support professional resumes. While direct support professional responsibilities can utilize skills like "dsp," "group homes," "home management," and "early intervention," residential aides use skills like "cleanliness," "cpr," "crisis intervention," and "rehabilitation."
On average, residential aides earn a lower salary than direct support professionals. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, residential aides earn the most pay in the education industry with an average salary of $28,714. Whereas direct support professionals have higher pay in the government industry, with an average salary of $29,464.residential aides earn similar levels of education than direct support professionals in general. They're 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Direct support professional vs. Residential program worker
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from direct support professional resumes include skills like "direct support," "autism," "dsp," and "home health," whereas a residential program worker is more likely to list skills in "patients," "motor vehicle," "adaptive," and "cpr. "
Residential program workers earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $28,780. Direct support professionals earn the highest pay from the government industry, with an average salary of $29,464.residential program workers typically earn similar educational levels compared to direct support professionals. Specifically, they're 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Direct support professional vs. Hair stylist
Even though a few skill sets overlap between direct support professionals and hair stylists, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a direct support professional might have more use for skills like "direct support," "developmental disabilities," "autism," and "direct care." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of hair stylists require skills like "cosmetology," "clips," "kids," and "makeup. "
In general, hair stylists earn the most working in the health care industry, with an average salary of $39,653. The highest-paying industry for a direct support professional is the government industry.The average resume of hair stylists showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to direct support professionals. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.2%.Types of direct support professional
Updated January 8, 2025
