9 Key Attributes Home Health Aides Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Alex Garcia

Monday, January 4, 2016

Home health aides provide routine individualized healthcare such as changing bandages and dressing wounds, and applying topical medications to the elderly, convalescents, or persons with disabilities at the patient's home or in a care facility. Monitor or report changes in health status. They may also also provide personal care such as bathing, dressing, and grooming of patient.

The core tasks that home health aides are likely to carry out include:

Maintain records of patient care, condition, progress, or problems to report and discuss observations with supervisor or case manager.
Check patients' pulse, temperature, and respiration.
Provide patients with help moving in and out of beds, baths, wheelchairs, or automobiles and with dressing and grooming.
Care for patients by changing bed linens, washing and ironing laundry, cleaning, or assisting with their personal care.
Entertain, converse with, or read aloud to patients to keep them mentally healthy and alert.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that home health aides would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Having a strong preference for social work environments. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 100%

Being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 87.8%

Maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 87.6%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 81.6%

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 81.6%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80.6%