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Personal Care Aides

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Provide personalized assistance to individuals with disabilities or illness who require help with personal care and activities of daily living support (e.g., feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and ambulation). May also provide help with tasks such as preparing meals, doing light housekeeping, and doing laundry. Work is performed in various settings depending on the needs of the care recipient and may include locations such as their home, place of work, out in the community, or at a daytime nonresidential facility.

Related: Child, Family, & School Social Workers Home Health Aides Nannies Nursing Assistants Social & Human Service Assistants

Industries: Health & Counseling

Summary
Details

Plan, shop for, or prepare nutritious meals or assist families in planning, shopping for, or preparing nutritious meals.
Instruct or advise clients on issues, such as household cleanliness, utilities, hygiene, nutrition, or infant care.
Transport clients to locations outside the home, such as to physicians' offices or on outings, using a motor vehicle.
Train family members to provide bedside care.
Perform healthcare-related tasks, such as monitoring vital signs and medication, under the direction of registered nurses or physiotherapists.
Perform housekeeping duties, such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes or dishes, or running errands.
Care for individuals or families during periods of incapacitation, family disruption, or convalescence, providing companionship, personal care, or help in adjusting to new lifestyles.
Perform healthcare-related tasks, such as monitoring vital signs and medication, under the direction of registered nurses or physiotherapists.
Provide clients with communication assistance, typing their correspondence or obtaining information for them.
Prepare and maintain records of client progress and services performed, reporting changes in client condition to manager or supervisor.
Administer bedside or personal care, such as ambulation or personal hygiene assistance.
Perform housekeeping duties, such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes or dishes, or running errands.
Participate in case reviews, consulting with the team caring for the client, to evaluate the client's needs and plan for continuing services.
Prepare and maintain records of client progress and services performed, reporting changes in client condition to manager or supervisor.

Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

Less than 1 month on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

46140/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

22.18/hr

Currently Employed

5,087,500

Yearly Projected Openings

765800

Social: People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking. They do well at jobs that need:

Optimism
Sincerity
Empathy
Self-Control
Social Orientation
Cooperation

Adjustable widemouth pliers
Adjustable wrenches
Alarm systems
Back or lumbar or sacral orthopedic softgoods
Bedpans
Blood pressure cuff kits
Braille devices for the physically challenged
Canes
Crutches
Digital camcorders or video cameras
Digital cameras
Electric vibrators for rehabilitation or therapy
Electronic blood pressure units
Electronic medical thermometers
Glucose monitors or meters
Hammers
Hearing aid
Lower extremity prosthetic devices
Medical acoustic stethoscopes
Oxygen therapy delivery system products
Paging controllers
Patient bed or table scales for general use
Patient lifts
Patient shifting boards
Personal computers
Screwdrivers
Shower or bath chairs or seats for the physically challenged
Specimen collection container
Tablet computers
Telecommunication devices TDD or teletypewriters TTY for the physically challenged
Upper extremity prosthetic devices
Vascular or compression apparel or support
Voice synthesizers for the physically challenged
Walkers or rollators
Walking braces
Wheelchairs