Home Health Aide: Career Information

A home health aide provides basic care for people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, cognitive impairments or who have age-related problems. He or she receives direct supervision from a medical professional, usually a nurse. A home health aide may provide basic health-related services that include checking a patient's pulse rate, temperature, and respiration rate.

There were 922,000 people employed in this job in 2008 (US).

Home health aides receive on-the-job training from registered nurses, licensed practical nurses or experienced aides. One does not need a high school diploma to work in this field.

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Home health aides who work for agencies that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement must complete both 75 hours of training and a competency evaluation, or a state training program. This is the minimum requirement mandated by the Federal government. Some states may have more stringent requirements. To work as a home health aide one should have a nice disposition and the desire to help people. Those working in this field must be in good emotional and physical health.

Some home health aides choose to further their education in order to become nursing aides, licensed practical nurses or registered nurses.

^{Why Do You Need to Know About Advancement?}

Job growth is expected to be excellent. This occupation is projected to grow faster, through 2018, than many other occupations that require only on-the-job training or experience (The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

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Home health aides earned a median annual salary of $20,480 and a median hourly wage of $9.85 in 2009 (U.S.).

Use the Salary Wizard at Salary.com to find out how much a Home Health Aide currently earns in your city.

On a typical day a home health aide's tasks might include:

• helping patients get in and out of bed
• bathing, dressing and grooming patients
• changing and laundering patients' linens
• engaging patients in conversation or otherwise entertaining them
• serving meals to patients

Sources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Home Health Aide and Personal and Home Care Aides, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos326.htm (visited April 19, 2010).
Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, O*NET Online, Home Health Aide, on the Internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/details/31-1011.00 (visited November 23, 2010).