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Job Description: Home health aides provide routine, personal healthcare to elderly, convalescent, or disabled individuals in their home or in a residential facility. Some help discharged hospital patients who have relatively short-term needs. Those who work with home healthcare agencies may be supervised by a registered nurse, physical therapist, or social worker who assigns specific duties. Aides keep records of services performed and patients' condition and progress. They report changes in patients' conditions to the supervisor or case manager. The development of in-home medical technologies, substantial cost savings, and patients' preference for care in the home have helped make this once small segment of the healthcare industry into one of the fastest growing in the United States economy. For related occupational information, see personal and home care aides who mainly provide housekeeping and routine personal care services.

Duties: Home health aides may perform some or all of the following duties:

• Administer prescribed oral medication under written direction of physician or as directed by home care nurse
• Massage patients and apply preparations and treatment such as liniment or alcohol rubs and heat-lamp stimulation
• Change bed linens, wash, and iron clothing
• Cleans patients' quarters
• Assist patients into and out of bed, automobiles, or wheelchair
• Assist patients up and down stairs
• Purchase, prepare, and serve food for patients following special prescribed diets
• Maintain records of services performed and of apparent condition of patient and report to supervisor
• Perform variety of miscellaneous duties as requested such as obtaining household supplies and running errands
• Provide prescribed physical activities and simple exercises to aid rehabilitation process

For additional information on tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities, work activities, work contexts, job zones, interests, work styles, work values, and related occupations, visit the O*Net Online, a division of the National Center for Occupational Information.

Working Conditions: Home health aides may go to the same patient's home for months or even years; however, most aides work with a number of different patients. Home health aides may visit many patients on the same day. Assignments for each job may last a few hours, several days, or many weeks. Home health aides generally work alone but they have periodic visits by their supervisor. They usually receive detailed instructions explaining when to visit patients and what services to perform. Aides are individually responsible for getting to patients' homes. They may spend a good portion of the working day traveling from one patient to another. Because mechanical lifting devices available in institutional settings are seldom available in patients' homes, home health aides are particularly susceptible to injuries resulting from overexertion when assisting patients.

Educational Requirements: Nursing aide training is offered in some high schools, technology centers, nursing homes, and community colleges. Courses cover body mechanics, nutrition, anatomy and physiology, infection control, communication skills, and resident rights. Personal care skills such as how to help patients bathe, eat, and groom also are taught. The National Association for Home Care offers national certification for home health aides. The certification is a voluntary demonstration that the individual has met industry standards. Some facilities, other than nursing homes, provide classroom instruction for newly hired aides, while others rely exclusively on informal on-the-job instruction from a licensed nurse or an experienced aide. Such training may last several days to a few months. From time to time, aides may also attend lectures, workshops, and in-service training. For related information and recommended courses to prepare for this occupation, Tennessee high school students may visit the Health Science Education Curriculum Standards online.

Outlook: The estimated number of home health aides in Tennessee is 7,980. It is projected there will be an increase of 42 percent in this occupation through the year 2012 with 440 job openings annually. For additional information on this occupation, visit the nationally recognized Occupational Outlook Handbook online.

Salary

• Bureau of Labor Statistics, Tennessee Department of Labor website
• TN Department of Labor & Workforce Development website
• Bureau of Economic Analysis website

For an explanation of salary data please visit acinet.org

Last updated on: January 29, 2008