Skills and Knowledge Needed to Succeed as a Home Health Aide
If you have a passion for helping others and you like assisting people with their daily needs, becoming a home health aide could be a good option for you. A home health aide is someone who helps with the daily care of people with disabilities, cognitive impairment, or chronic illness. You can learn more about the typical job duties of a home health aide below.
Typical Duties of a Home Health Aide
If becoming a home health aide sounds like a job you may be interested in, you can learn more about this job right here. Below, are some of the typical job duties of a home health aide. Learning about these could help you decide if this is a job you would enjoy.
- Assist Client with Personal Tasks – As a home health aide, your job will be to assist your client. You will probably assist them with a variety of tasks, but some of the main tasks will be personal tasks like helping them to get dressed or helping them bathe.
- Housekeeping Tasks – You also may be needed to do different housekeeping tasks for your clients. Some of your clients may be unable to do certain housekeeping tasks, so they will have you do duties such as laundry, washing dishes, and basic cleaning tasks.
- Arranging for Client Transportation – Another potential job responsibility for a home health aide will be to arrange for transportation for your client. Your client may not be able to drive places, so you could drive them places, or you could arrange for other transportation options for them to get to places like the doctor’s office.
- Prepare Client Meals – As a home health aide, you also may be needed to prepare client meals. If you have clients that cannot do very much for themselves, you may have to make them food and help them eat the food.
- Assist with Patient Medications– Assisting clients with medications may be another responsibility that you have to take on in your position as a home health aide. You can remind the patients about their medication and give them their prescription to take.
- And More – As a home health aide, it is your job to assist the client with whatever they need. As long as you are qualified to perform the task, you can help the patient out with it. For example, you can drive the client places to doctor’s appointments or social outings. You can also check the client’s pulse or temperature if they need it. You may have duties other than the ones listed here, but these are the basic job duties.
As you can see, there are several different responsibilities and tasks you may need to take on as a home health aide. A home health aide is focused on providing help to their clients, and each client may need something different. Working as a home health aide can be challenging, but it can also be very rewarding because you are helping other people who need it.
Job Outlook and More for a Home Health Aide
Working as a home health aide could be a good option for many reasons. One reason is that it is valuable work that involves helping others. Another reason is that there is a growing need for this type of position. BLS.gov tells us that the employment of home health aides is projected to grow 41% from 2016 to 2026. This is huge job growth, so it has a good job outlook for the future. The reason for all this growth is partly due to the growing elderly population. Many elderly people are in need of some assistance, and that could come in the form of a home health aide.
How can you become a home health aide? There are different ways of becoming a home health aide, but one way is to go through a home health aide training. The FVI School of Nursing and Technology has a home health aide program that can help you get started working in this field. This home health aide program at FVI is a quick five-week program that can teach you what you need to know to get started in the world of work. The FVI School of Nursing and Technology can also get you connected with companies in need of workers when you complete the program. If you would like to learn more about the home health aide program at FVI, click here.
For more information about graduation rates, the median debt of students who completed the program, and other important information, please visit our website:
https://fvi.edu/consumer-information/
