Job Outlook for Home Health Aide

Home health aides assist older people or patients who are either chronically ill, disabled, or cognitively impaired. They look after their clients and help them with bathing, dressing, giving medicines, etc.

 Duties of a Home health Aide :

1. They help clients in dressing, bathing, eating and other personal task.
2. They organize client’s daily schedule and ensure it is followed.
3. For older clients they take them for outing and arrange for their exercise sessions.
4. They accompany them to doctors and plan appointments.
5. They ensure that their client takes all their medicines on time.
6. They also ensure client’s room is clean and tidy.
7. They record client’s health condition and report any progress to doctors.
8. They also empty client’s bed pans

Work Environment:

There were about 839,930 home health aide jobs in the year 2012. Most of them work in client’s home. Most of them spend the entire day at clients home, some may visit 3 or 4 clients in a day and few may even stay back at the client’s home overnight. Health care aides work for hospice agencies or home health. They work in hospitals under the supervision of nurses. They may have to work in shifts.

Certification and Training:

There is no requirement of any formal education for health care aides, however those working in certified home health or hospice agencies need to be certified and undergo formal training. Most of the aides undergo high school diploma or equivalent degree before taking up the profession, although it is not required.  Those working in hospitals are trained under nurses and medical assistants. Training is provided regarding nutrition, reading and recording symptoms and controlling infection. They are also trained to handle emergency.  Addition training and certification provides better job prospects.

Salary and remuneration:

Home health aides earn average annual wage of $21830. These jobs have the highest level of employment in all Home Health care services and individual & family services. North Dakota is the top paying state for this job with average annual wage of $29710

Job Outlook

Home health aide jobs are expected to rise by 69 % up to 2020. These jobs are expected to grow much faster than any other occupation. With aging population more and more people will require services of Home Health care aides. Aides are a less expensive option for disabled and elderly when compared to hospitals or nursing homes. A certified home care aide is less expensive than nurse. Patients prefer to stay at home than in hospitals, this also adds to more jobs for Health care aides.

Job prospects for home health aides are expected to be excellent.