If you are caring and compassionate and seek independence and flexible hours, a career as a Home Health Aide (HHA) may be right for you.
What They Do
HHAs provide personal and health-related services to home-based patients. Patients range from children to adults and elderly people who typically are physically or mentally disabled, suffering or convalescing from a long-term illness or in need of hospice care.
The physical demands can be rigorous. Duties may include light nursing (taking temperature, pulse and respiration rates, changing surgical dressings, giving medications, changing bedpans and hooking up patients to their medical equipment); providing companionship and light housekeeping; running errands; driving patients to appointments and engagements: lifting and moving patients and equipment; washing, grooming and dressing patients; and preparing meals.
The emotional demands can be rigorous, too. Patients may be difficult, depressed or violent and in as much need of emotional attention as they are of physical attention. But HHAs derive great satisfaction from knowing they are helping their patients enjoy a better quality of life.
Qualifications
It is fairly easy to land a job as an HHA for first-time and returning workers because most employers do not require a high school diploma, formal education or certification. Many schools offer formal training if you want to have a step up on your competition.
Some employers provide their own training to newly-hired HHAs, after which they may require them to pass a competency test. The National Association for Home Care offers national certification. The Federal Government requires HHAs who work for employers who receive Medicare reimbursement to pass a competency test.
HHAs may be self-employed or work for an agency. They usually work alone in the patient's home.
The Demand
According to the U. S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for HHAs are projected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2016. Factors contributing to this growth include the aging population and new technology that helps patients and the elderly live more comfortably at home.
Salaries in 2008 ranged from $15,120 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to $27,470 in Anchorage, Alaska. For more information about the home health aide industry visit the National Association for Home Care and Hospice at www.nahc.org.
What They Do
HHAs provide personal and health-related services to home-based patients. Patients range from children to adults and elderly people who typically are physically or mentally disabled, suffering or convalescing from a long-term illness or in need of hospice care.
The physical demands can be rigorous. Duties may include light nursing (taking temperature, pulse and respiration rates, changing surgical dressings, giving medications, changing bedpans and hooking up patients to their medical equipment); providing companionship and light housekeeping; running errands; driving patients to appointments and engagements: lifting and moving patients and equipment; washing, grooming and dressing patients; and preparing meals.
The emotional demands can be rigorous, too. Patients may be difficult, depressed or violent and in as much need of emotional attention as they are of physical attention. But HHAs derive great satisfaction from knowing they are helping their patients enjoy a better quality of life.
Qualifications
It is fairly easy to land a job as an HHA for first-time and returning workers because most employers do not require a high school diploma, formal education or certification. Many schools offer formal training if you want to have a step up on your competition.
Some employers provide their own training to newly-hired HHAs, after which they may require them to pass a competency test. The National Association for Home Care offers national certification. The Federal Government requires HHAs who work for employers who receive Medicare reimbursement to pass a competency test.
HHAs may be self-employed or work for an agency. They usually work alone in the patient's home.
The Demand
According to the U. S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for HHAs are projected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2016. Factors contributing to this growth include the aging population and new technology that helps patients and the elderly live more comfortably at home.
Salaries in 2008 ranged from $15,120 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to $27,470 in Anchorage, Alaska. For more information about the home health aide industry visit the National Association for Home Care and Hospice at www.nahc.org.
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