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 representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • 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.

Some of the skills we found on home health aid resumes included "home health," "patients," and "companionship." We have detailed the most important home health aid responsibilities below.

  • Detail oriented can be considered to be the most important personality trait for a home health aid to have. According to a home health aid resume, "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 are able to use detail oriented in the following example we gathered from a resume: "organized, attentive to detail providing basic care, medication administration and more importantly, promoting community involvement. "
  • While it may not be the most important skill, we found that many home health aid duties rely on integrity. This example from a home health aid explains why: "home health aides and personal care aides should make clients feel comfortable when they tend to personal activities, such as helping a client bathe." This resume example is just one of many ways home health aids are able to utilize integrity: "displayed companionship to build notable rapport with client and family members, establishing trust and a respectable bond. "
  • Interpersonal skills is also an important skill for home health aids to have. This example of how home health aids use this skill comes from a home health aid resume, "home health aides and personal care aides must work closely with clients" Read this excerpt from a resume to understand how vital it is to their everyday roles and responsibilities, "performed one-on-one personal patient care; demonstrated excellent interpersonal skills with patients and family members. "
  • A home health aid responsibilities sometimes require "physical stamina." The responsibilities that rely on this skills are shown by this resume excerpt: "home health aides and personal care aides should be comfortable performing physical tasks" This resume example shows how this skill is used by home health aids: "initiate conversation and provide emotional support to developmentally and physically disabled. "
  • See the full list of home health aid skills.

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    What Sitters Do

    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.

    In this section, we compare the average home health aid annual salary with that of a sitter. Typically, sitters earn a $1,475 higher salary than home health aids earn annually.

    Even though home health aids and sitters have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require home health, patients, and companionship in the day-to-day roles.

    These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A home health aid responsibility is more likely to require skills like "patient care," "hha," "in-home care," and "care plan." Whereas a sitter requires skills like "kids," "patient safety," "pet," and "allergies." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

    Sitters receive the highest salaries in the non profits industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $33,017. But 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.

    What Are The Duties Of an 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.

    Next up, we have the attending, ambulatory care profession to look over. This career brings along a higher average salary when compared to a home health aid annual salary. In fact, attendings, ambulatory care salary difference is $2,377 higher than the salary of home health aids per 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 home health aids and attendings, ambulatory care are known to have skills such as "patients," "companionship," and "patient care. "

    But both careers also use 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," some 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. There are industries that support higher salaries in each profession respectively. 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 paychecks in the health care industry where they earn an average of $27,162.

    In general, attendings, ambulatory care study at 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.

    How a Resident Care Associate Compares

    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 resident care associate profession generally makes a higher amount of money when compared to the average salary of home health aids. The difference in salaries is resident care associates making $3,248 higher than home health aids.

    Using home health aids and resident care associates resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "patients," "cpr," and "meal prep," but the other skills required are very different.

    As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from home health aids resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "home health," "companionship," "patient care," and "hha." But a resident care associate might 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. Whereas home health aids are paid the highest salary in the health care industry with the average being $27,162.

    Resident care associates typically study at similar levels compared with 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.

    Description Of a 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.

    Now, we'll look at personal care workers, who generally average a higher pay when compared to home health aids annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $2,241 per year.

    While their salaries may vary, home health aids and personal care workers both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "home health," "patients," and "companionship. "

    Each job requires different skills like "hha," "good judgment," "laundry services," and "dementia care," which might show up on a home health aid resume. Whereas personal care worker might include skills like "meal planning," "pcw," "quality care," and "communication assistance."

    Personal care workers earn a higher salary in the professional industry with an average of $29,488. Whereas, home health aids earn the highest salary in the health care industry.

    In general, personal care workers reach similar levels of education when compared to home health aids resumes. Personal care workers are 0.2% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    What a Home Health Aid Does FAQs

    What Is The Difference Between A Caregiver And A Home Health Aide?

    The difference between a caregiver and a home health aide is the level of medical care they are qualified and trained to give. Home Health Aides typically receive advanced training to provide simple health services.

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