What does a home health aid do?

Home health aides provide care and assistance to patients who have chronic illnesses, injuries, disabilities, or age-related challenges inside the patient's home. They monitor the patient's condition and help them in any activity they may need assistance in. They provide support to both the patient and the family to manage the patient's condition. Home health aides care for the patient by providing personal services like bathing and basic grooming, designing nutritional plans, cooking and preparing meals, running errands, maintaining the cleanliness of the home, managing medication intake, and ensuring the home is safe and secure for the patient.
Home health aid responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real home health aid resumes:
- Clean house, cook, run errands, take to doctor appointments
- Prepare for HIPAA and JCAHO reviews, ensuring require brochures and pamphlets are available to patients in all clinics.
- Conduct insurance verifications for Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance patients.
- Perform ADL's, medication administration, pulmonary therapy, daily physiotherapy.
- Provide physical and emotional support and companionship to senior adults in degenerative loss of memory and/or motor functions.
- Obtain household supplies and run daily errands.
- Supply, collect, or empty bedpans.
- Clean and change bandages and colostomy bags.
- Used mechanical HOYER lift to place patient bed to wheel chair daily.
- Provide friendship, support, and compassion in a professional, respectful manner.
- Administer medications to key clients, encouraging and enrolling them in healthcare programs.
- Provide compassion, care and assistance to elderly people who needs help in everyday living.
- Assist in the rehabilitation of patients by providing appropriate care in accordance with specifications.
- Administer schedule as well as medical and personal regiment for patients ensuring a well-round healthy lifestyle.
- Provide high-quality in a rehabilitation and home-healthcare settings.
Home health aid skills and personality traits
We calculated that 22% of Home Health Aids are proficient in Home Health, Patients, and Companionship. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Integrity, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Home Health Aids that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Home Health, 22%
Home health therapist responsible for following plan of care directed by Physical Therapist, treating geriatric population with complex medical history
- Patients, 13%
Administered schedule as well as medical and personal regiment for patients ensuring a well-rounded healthy lifestyle.
- Companionship, 7%
Perform light housekeeping duties, prepared meals, accompany to/from appointments, grocery shopping, monitoring physical/mental abilities, companionship.
- Patient Care, 5%
Participated in training on advanced documentation of patient care and daily activity including communication with families regarding these items.
- HHA, 5%
Provided HHA instruction, applying in-depth familiarity to address inquiries and deliver accurate information.
- CPR, 4%
Participated in continuing education requirements as needed to keep CPR and First Aid Certification current.
Common skills that a home health aid uses to do their job include "home health," "patients," and "companionship." You can find details on the most important home health aid responsibilities below.
Detail oriented. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a home health aid 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." Home health aids often use detail oriented in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "organized, attentive to detail providing basic care, medication administration and more importantly, promoting community involvement. "
Integrity. Many home health aid 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 home health aid will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways home health aid responsibilities rely on integrity: "displayed companionship to build notable rapport with client and family members, establishing trust and a respectable bond. "
Interpersonal skills. This is an important skill for home health aids to perform their duties. For an example of how home health aid responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "home health aides and personal care aides must work closely with clients." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a home health aid: "performed one-on-one personal patient care; demonstrated excellent interpersonal skills with patients and family members. ".
Physical stamina. home health aid 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 home health aids do with physical stamina on a typical day: "initiate conversation and provide emotional support to developmentally and physically disabled. "
The three companies that hire the most home health aids are:
- Interim HealthCare1,422 home health aids jobs
- BAYADA Home Health Care493 home health aids jobs
- Kindred at Home470 home health aids jobs
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Home health aid vs. Sitter
A sitter is responsible for assisting medical needs under the supervision of an attending physician, registered nurses, and other health professionals. Sitters monitor the patients' daily activities and perform medical duties such as taking the patient's temperature, administering medications, monitoring food intake, helping with bathing needs, and responding to the patients' inquiries, concerns, and requests. They also keep track of medical charts to report the patients' health condition and progress to the senior staff.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a home health aid are more likely to require skills like "patient care," "hha," "in-home care," and "care plan." On the other hand, a job as a sitter requires skills like "kids," "patient safety," "pet," and "allergies." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Sitters earn the highest salaries when working in the non profits industry, with an average yearly salary of $33,017. On the other hand, home health aids are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $27,162.sitters tend to reach similar levels of education than home health aids. In fact, sitters are 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Home health aid vs. Attending, ambulatory care
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.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real home health aid resumes. While home health aid responsibilities can utilize skills like "home health," "hha," "in-home care," and "run errands," attendings, ambulatory care use skills like "customer service," "quality care," "direct care," and "rehabilitation."
On average, attendings, ambulatory care earn a higher salary than home health aids. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, attendings, ambulatory care earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $30,236. Whereas home health aids have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $27,162.In general, attendings, ambulatory care achieve similar levels of education than home health aids. They're 0.9% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Home health aid vs. Resident care associate
Resident Care Associates are responsible for providing support and care to individuals living in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. Their duties include assisting residents with daily tasks such as eating, bathing, and dressing, audit care records, as well as making sure patients take their prescribed medications. They implement daily group activities, attend to medical or safety issues, and communicates any concerns to a resident's family members as required.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, home health aids are more likely to have skills like "home health," "companionship," "patient care," and "hha." But a resident care associate is more likely to have skills like "resident care," "administer medications," "rca," and "assist residents."
Resident care associates make a very good living in the media industry with an average annual salary of $29,599. On the other hand, home health aids are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $27,162.Most resident care associates achieve a similar degree level compared to home health aids. For example, they're 1.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Home health aid vs. Personal care worker
A personal care worker is responsible for providing quality health care services for elders and disabled persons. Personal care workers are usually employed in a private household setting or a special healthcare institution, assisting patients with their daily activities, and monitoring their conditions. They update the patients' medical charts, administer medication from the physician's prescriptions, and manage their food intake. A personal care worker must be highly-organized, especially when attending to patients' needs, inquiries, and concerns.
Types of home health aid
Updated January 8, 2025











