Home Health Aide Job Description

A decision to go into the Home Health Aide (HHA) healthcare field is highly commendable! Working as a HHA, you will be positively affecting the well-being of others by assisting them with their daily life.

The home health aide job description is something you should understand and become familiar with if you’re undecided on taking this career path.

Though the job of a HHA does require a large number of responsibilities, the personal fulfillment and satisfaction you will receive from helping those who need your personal care as an HHA are great.

The home health aide job description listed below lays out all that typically encompasses this great entry-level healthcare career for you to help others in their daily lives.

Home Health Aide Job Description Overview

Essentially, HHAs are responsible for providing personal, health-related care for people in their private homes.

These types of people include those who may be disabled, have a chronicle illness, are cognitively impaired, or seniors who need additional assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs).

ADLs are routine activities that people perform daily. The activities include the following:

Eating
Bathing and showering
Dressing
Grooming
Elimination (using the toilet)
Mobility

Job Duties

Working under the supervision of a medical professional, HHAs perform the following activities as instructed:

Implements and upholds the plan for home care
Takes and record temperature, respiration and pulse
Performs routine care for bathing, brushing teeth, dressing, grooming
Provides transportation to doctor’s appointments, shopping and other activities
Ensure medications are taken properly (under supervision)
Helps get in and out of bed
Helps with mobility – getting in and out of chairs, helping to a standing position
Prepares nutritious meals, serves, and assists with eating
Changes bed sheets and makes up beds
Performs light housekeeping tasks such as washing dishes, sweeping floors, dusting shelves, emptying trash, retrieving the mail, cleaning bathrooms, washing, drying and folding laundry
Provides companionship – holding conversations, playing games, reading out loud
Reports changes in the condition or incidents to nurse of the patient in timely manner

Work Environment and Schedule

Most HHAs will work in the private homes of their patients; some will also work in small group homes.

Aides might work for one patient, going to the same private home every day for months or years at a time. Others may have multiple homes to visit for varying lengths of time during the day.

If this were the case, the aide may have several homes to visit in a single day. Therefore, is it critical to be flexible and have reliable transportation for getting to each client’s home.

Personal Qualifications and Skills

To be successful as an HHA, there are a number of qualities that you should have to allow you to perform your job well. These characteristics include:

Maturity – both mentally and emotionally.
High interest and sympathetic nature – towards personally helping those in need with a concern for others
Strength and physical stamina – necessary to perform heavy lifting correctly, participate in various physical activities, stand on feet for extended periods of time, and endure extensive bending, standing and lifting on a routine basis.
Good communication skills – both speaking and active listening.
High ethics – meaning to be responsible and not take advantage of your client in any way.
Respectful – caring for your clients and their property with dignity, security, confidentiality, and kindness
Positive attitude – able to cheer someone up who is feeling down or sad.

Use this home health aide job description to help you determine if you have the abilities to perform the job well and if you have the personal qualifications and skills needed for your patients to be happy they hired you.