What does a senior caregiver do?
A senior caregiver is responsible for supporting the elderly, disabled patients, and other persons with illnesses or has difficulty managing themselves alone and assist them with their daily activities. Senior caregivers monitor the patients' behaviors, keep records of health conditions, administer medications, and prepare the patients for medical procedures. They also coordinate with the attending physicians and other medical health professionals in developing quality care plans and services for the patients, following the standard procedures and health safety requirements.
Senior caregiver responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior caregiver resumes:
- Provide day-to-day assistance to the elderly with ADL needs.
- Light housekeeping including pet care, empty and sanitize commode.
- Maintain familiar routine, assist with decision making and pet care.
- Assist patient with ADL's, by means of cooperative service plans.
- Care of clients with Alzheimer's, dementia, stroke and post-operative hip replacement surgery.
- Demonstrate sensitivity and compassion to patient.
- Provide companionship to clients and establish trusting professional relationship and develop positive rapport.
- Receive continuous education in specialize skills including Alzheimer's care and incontinence management.
- Assist seniors and disable individuals with meals and housekeeping; provide toileting and showering assistance; provide conversation and companionship
- Promote continuity of care by accurately and completely communicating to other caregivers the status of patients for which care is provided.
- Attach, empty and monitor the sanitary use of an external catheter.
- Check mail, shop for groceries and handle bill payments.
Senior caregiver skills and personality traits
We calculated that 24% of Senior Caregivers are proficient in Companionship, Senior Care, and In-Home Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Integrity, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Caregivers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Companionship, 24%
Provided companionship and conversation, stabilization and assistance with walking*Prepared meals and cleaning up meal-related items*Performed light housekeeping and ran errands.
- Senior Care, 10%
Developed strategic alliances with other senior care partners to enhance educational outreach.
- In-Home Care, 10%
Provided compassionate and dignified in-home care for an elderly couple battling the effects of Alzheimer's disease.
- Home Health, 10%
Provide in-home health care support services to seniors and elderly (including Alzheimer's and Hospice/Palliative care) patients.
- Medication Reminders, 6%
Provide home services for senior clients, such as grooming, bathing, mobility and medication reminders.
- Meal Prep, 5%
Provide meal preparation and monitoring.
"companionship," "senior care," and "in-home care" are among the most common skills that senior caregivers use at work. You can find even more senior caregiver responsibilities below, including:
Detail oriented. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a senior caregiver 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." Senior caregivers often use detail oriented in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "oriented new employees to patients home setting, daily routines, and required documentation. "
Integrity. Another essential skill to perform senior caregiver duties is integrity. Senior caregivers 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." Senior caregivers also use integrity in their role according to a real resume snippet: "monitored skin integrity, basic adl's per client's specific needs. "
Interpersonal skills. This is an important skill for senior caregivers to perform their duties. For an example of how senior caregiver 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 senior caregiver: "worked with child and achieved yearly habilitation goals including adl's, motor skills, emotional awareness and interpersonal relationships. ".
Physical stamina. For certain senior caregiver responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "physical stamina." The day-to-day duties of a senior caregiver 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 senior caregivers do: "provide companionship and mental and physical stimulation. "
The three companies that hire the most senior caregivers are:
- CARE29 senior caregivers jobs
- Senior Helpers12 senior caregivers jobs
- Comfort Keepers11 senior caregivers jobs
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Compare different senior caregivers
Senior caregiver 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, senior caregiver responsibilities require skills like "companionship," "senior care," "in-home care," and "home health." 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 earn the highest salaries when working in the non profits industry, with an average yearly salary of $41,844. On the other hand, senior caregivers are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $27,003.The education levels that nannies earn slightly differ from senior caregivers. In particular, nannies are 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior caregiver. Additionally, they're 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior caregiver vs. Aide
Aides are personal employees of their clients who commonly have health issues that render them unable to do certain tasks. They help out their clients with activities they may need assistance in. They may do personal errands such as grocery shopping, cleaning, and cooking. They also provide care for their clients by helping them bathe, dress, brush their teeth, and other personal hygiene activities. Aides also help their clients walk, sit, and eat if their clients' motor functions are compromised. Aides are expected to be patient, caring, and trustworthy.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real senior caregiver resumes. While senior caregiver responsibilities can utilize skills like "companionship," "in-home care," "run errands," and "oral hygiene," aides use skills like "customer service," "behavioral issues," "direct supervision," and "behavior management."
Aides may earn a lower salary than senior caregivers, but aides earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $27,848. On the other hand, senior caregivers receive higher pay in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $27,003.aides earn similar levels of education than senior caregivers in general. They're 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior caregiver vs. Home health aid
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.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from senior caregiver resumes include skills like "compassion," "incontinence care," "medical care," and "pet," whereas a home health aid is more likely to list skills in "hha," "good judgment," "laundry services," and "good communication. "
Home health aids make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $27,162. On the other hand, senior caregivers are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $27,003.When it comes to education, home health aids tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior caregivers. In fact, they're 1.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior caregiver vs. Direct support professional
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.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between senior caregivers and direct support professionals, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a senior caregiver might have more use for skills like "companionship," "in-home care," "medication reminders," and "run errands." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of direct support professionals require skills like "direct support," "developmental disabilities," "autism," and "direct care. "
The government industry tends to pay the highest salaries for direct support professionals, with average annual pay of $29,464. Comparatively, the highest senior caregiver annual salary comes from the health care industry.The average resume of direct support professionals showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to senior caregivers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.5%.Types of senior caregiver
Updated January 8, 2025
