What does a personal care worker do?
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.
Personal care worker responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real personal care worker resumes:
- Manage provider network to include verifying claims and benefits for healthcare providers/members and insurance companies.
- Assist in transfers using a gate belt or a hoyer lift.
- Use a Hoyer lift to transport patient out of bed to their wheel chair
- Perform light maintance which include switching window screens and storm windows, installing and removing air conditioning units.
- Care for mentally and physically disable individuals, bathing, feeding, house cleaning duties, tolieting, medicines, CPR certify
- Travele to different client homes to assist with ADL's i.e., laundry, bathing, grooming, cleaning, etc.
- Assist developmentally delay and behaviorally demanding individuals with ADL's.
- Provide transportation, assistance and companionship for elderly and persons with disabilities.
- Provide personal cares, companionship and community integration to individuals who have developmental disabilities
- Promote continuity of care by accurately and completely communicating to other caregivers the status of patients for which care is provided.
- Assist with monitoring timelines to ensure that all IEP meetings and assessments are completed.
- Provide chemo teachings prior to the first cycle of chemotherapy.
- Provide colostomy care and administer medication for pain management in accordance with current physician recommendations.
Personal care worker skills and personality traits
We calculated that 24% of Personal Care Workers are proficient in Patients, Home Health, and Good Communication. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Integrity, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Personal Care Workers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 24%
Administered medications and ensured patients were given appropriate health and nutrition support.
- Home Health, 20%
Provided home health personal and supportive cares primarily for individuals with Cerebral Palsy
- Good Communication, 13%
Maintain good communication with entire support team.
- In-Home Care, 12%
Provide in-home care for physically disabled client including: hygiene maintenance such as bathing, skin care, and oral care.
- Companionship, 5%
Provided personal cares, companionship and community integration to individuals who have developmental disabilities
- Patient Care, 2%
Provided high-quality patient care and safety.
"patients," "home health," and "good communication" are among the most common skills that personal care workers use at work. You can find even more personal care worker responsibilities below, including:
Detail oriented. One of the key soft skills for a personal care worker to have is detail oriented. You can see how this relates to what personal care workers 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 personal care worker resume shows how personal care workers use detail oriented: "specialized in defiant children/teens accurately dispensed medicine and completed detailed records diverse meal preparation"
Integrity. Another essential skill to perform personal care worker duties is integrity. Personal care workers responsibilities require that "home health aides and personal care aides should make clients feel comfortable when they tend to personal activities, such as helping a client bathe." Personal care workers also use integrity in their role according to a real resume snippet: "established trust with patients and cultivated positive climate to encourage open communication. "
Interpersonal skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of personal care workers is interpersonal skills. This skill is critical to many everyday personal care worker 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: "provide a high level of customer service and client relations based on outstanding communication and interpersonal skills. "
Physical stamina. For certain personal care worker responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "physical stamina." The day-to-day duties of a personal care worker rely on this skill, as "home health aides and personal care aides should be comfortable performing physical tasks." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what personal care workers do: "provided companionship and full care assistance to individuals with mental/physical disabilities. "
The three companies that hire the most personal care workers are:
- CARE24 personal care workers jobs
- InnovAge7 personal care workers jobs
- Trinity Health6 personal care workers jobs
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Compare different personal care workers
Personal care worker vs. Nanny
Nannies are family employees who are primarily responsible for taking care of children in the family's house. They are usually tapped to take care of the kids while the parents are at work or away on vacation. Their responsibilities include preparing food for the children, feeding the children, bathing them, dressing them up, ensuring that they take a nap, playing with them, and tucking them to bed at night. They also ensure that the schedule set by the parents is being followed. They may also do other household chores such as cleaning, watering the plants, washing the dishes, among others.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, personal care worker responsibilities require skills like "patients," "home health," "good communication," and "in-home care." Meanwhile a typical nanny has skills in areas such as "kids," "child care," "first aid aed," and "transport children." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Nannies tend to make the most money working in the non profits industry, where they earn an average salary of $41,844. In contrast, personal care workers make the biggest average salary, $29,488, in the professional industry.nannies tend to reach similar levels of education than personal care workers. In fact, nannies are 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Personal care worker vs. Baby sitter
A Baby Sitter is responsible for the welfare and safety of children while their parents or guardian are away. The tasks will vary on the age, behavior, or needs of the children. However, most of the time, a Baby Sitter must supervise the children's activities in a friendly and fun manner, prepare meals, assist in bathing or dressing, and get them to bed. There are also instances when the Baby Sitter must do some light chores, such as cleaning up after the kids or washing the dishes.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that personal care worker responsibilities requires skills like "patients," "home health," "good communication," and "in-home care." But a baby sitter might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "child care," "kids," "homework assignments," and "family friends."
Baby sitters earn a higher average salary than personal care workers. But baby sitters earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $48,994. Additionally, personal care workers earn the highest salaries in the professional with average pay of $29,488 annually.baby sitters earn similar levels of education than personal care workers in general. They're 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Personal care worker vs. Companion
A companion is responsible for assisting sick and recovered patients, as well as the elderly. Companions perform housekeeping duties, ensuring that a facility is well-maintained and safe for the use of the patients. They also monitor the patients' medication, prepare their meals based on a medical professional's prescription, support them on their daily activities, respond to the patients' needs and special requests as allowed, and report any developments to their family or guardians. A companion must be compassionate enough to extend physical and emotional support, depending on the client's condition.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from personal care worker resumes include skills like "good communication," "in-home care," "urinals," and "pcw," whereas a companion is more likely to list skills in "provide emotional support," "patient safety," "customer service," and "direct care. "
Companions earn the best pay in the non profits industry, where they command an average salary of $30,973. Personal care workers earn the highest pay from the professional industry, with an average salary of $29,488.companions typically earn similar educational levels compared to personal care workers. Specifically, they're 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Personal care worker vs. Provider
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.
Types of personal care worker
Updated January 8, 2025
