Home Healthcare Aides Schools, Salaries, and Job Data
Home Healthcare Aides Job Overview
Home healthcare aides provide care to elderly, recovering or disabled persons in their homes instead of healthcare facilities. They help patients recover from surgery or illness faster and give treatment to patients at their home when family members are unable to help. They also take care of the children whose parents are ill. They take instructions from doctors, nurses or therapists while providing care. They administer oral medications, check patient’s pulse rates, temperature and respiration rate. They also help discharged hospital patients who have relatively short-term needs.
Home Healthcare Aides Schools and Degrees
Home healthcare aides are not generally required to have a high school diploma. According to the Federal law, they need to pass a competency test covering a wide range of areas before they are trained. The National Association for Home Care and Hospice offers voluntary certification for home health aides. They are also trained on the job by registered nurses, licensed practical nurses or experienced aides. This training may last anywhere from several days to a few months. Aides also may attend lectures, workshops and in-service training.
Job Requirements
The National Association for Home Care offers Certified Home Care Aides certifications. The Certified Patient Care Technician certification is awarded by the National Healthcare Association.
Employers give classroom instruction for newly appointed home health care aides, but some of them focus on informal on-the-job instruction by a licensed nurse or an experienced aide. Home healthcare aides should be in good health, be tactful, patient, understanding, emotionally stable and dependable. They should also have a desire to help people. They might also need to undergo a physical examination test and a criminal background check.
Nature of Work
Home healthcare aides work under the directions of nursing or medical staff to provide healthcare services like administering oral medications, checking a patient’s pulse rate, temperature and respiration rate. They keep records of the services performed and record each patient’s condition and progress. They also report changes in a patient’s condition to the supervisor or case manager.
Some home healthcare aides may look after the same patient for months or even years. But they mostly work with a number of patients for few hours, days or weeks. They can also be required to attend multiple patients on the same day. They usually work alone and occasionally are visited by their supervisors. They are given detailed instructions about when to visit the patients and what services to perform.
Home Healthcare Aides Jobs and Outlook
According to research in 2006, home healthcare aides held about 787,000 jobs in the U.S. That number is expected to grow by 49% in the next ten years. Employment is the highest in the following industries:
Community Care Facilities for the Elderly
Home Health Care Services
Individual and Family Services
Nursing Care Facilities
Residential Mental Retardation, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities
The mean hourly wage for home healthcare aides in the U.S. is about $10.03, while the mean annual wages are around $20,850.
Job Numbers and Growth
About 787,000 home healthcare aides can be found working in the US. A high unemployment level has been the case recently. Employees without jobs were about 6%.
Area Job Conditions
Finding home healthcare aides is easiest in Goldsboro (North Carolina), Fayetteville (North Carolina), and Hickory (North Carolina), and by comparison more challenging in Gulfport (Mississippi), Champaign (Illinois), and Bowling Green (Kentucky).
The pay is best in Vineland (New Jersey), Hartford (Connecticut), and Anchorage (Alaska) and worst in Pine Bluff (Arkansas), Brownsville (Texas), and Victoria (Texas).
Training and Education
You'll generally want short-term on-the-job training for this career path. Of current home healthcare aides, 7% graduated from college with degrees. Some 37% of workers attened college but did not go on to get a bachelor's degree. A high school education was sufficient for 55% of employees. Recommended schools are shown in the column to the right; request information from them to help you decide which if any could help you with this career.
Part-Time Work and Self-Employment
Home healthcare aides working part-time accounted for 24% of those employed in 2008. Self-employed workers represent an estimated 2% of the total.
Home Healthcare Aides by Metropolitan Area (city and its surroundings)
In the table below, a Job Density near 0% means the area has an average number of people in this occupation, for its population. A higher or lower Job Density (e.g., +22% or -45%) tells you there are that many more or fewer workers of that type there than in the average US metro area. So, the higher the number, the more common the occupation.
Schools recommended for people interested in this career. Request info with quick online forms. These particular schools are noted for getting back to people fast.
Schools recommended for people interested in this career. Request info with quick online forms. These particular schools are noted for getting back to people fast.