Personal Care Assistant

The Personal Care Assistant Profession

Personal Care Assistants provide assistance to elderly, disabled, ill, and mentally disabled persons who live in their own homes or in a residential care facility. Some Personal Care Assistants work with families in which a parent is incapacitated and small children need care. Others help discharged hospital patients who have relatively short-term needs. The Bureau of Labor states that the Personal Care Assistant is projected to be one of the fastest growing occupations through 2018. Numerous job openings with excellent opportunities are expected. Job opportunities will be prevalent in hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, home care, long term care facilities, hospice and assisted living facilities. Personal Care Assistants can be in the form of paid employees who come into the home for a few hours a day or who live in the home fulltime or can be family members or friends of the resident.

The Personal Care Assistant Program

This comprehensive program prepares students for a position as a Personal Care Assistant. Emphasis is on giving personal care in a client’s home, communications, working with ill persons, basic human needs, eldercare, nutrition, special diets, housekeeping, and home management. This course covers the following key areas and topics:

• An overview of long-term care and memory care
• Communicating with ill persons and elderly individuals
• Nutrition, special diets, and meal preparation
• Safe assistance in health care management, monitoring and rehabilitation
• Safe assistance with activities of daily living and housekeeping

Education and Certification

• Students should have or be pursuing a high school diploma or GED.
• National certification is available for students who complete this course including National Healthcareer Association (NHA) Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) Exam
• State approval and/or state requirements associated with this program varies by state

Detailed Course Topics Covered

• Describe long-term care in terms of the target populations, environment, care options, general costs, services, and regulations
• Describe the physiological, psychological, and sociological changes related to aging
• Explain proper procedures for infection control in a home or residential environment
• Perform basic housekeeping procedures and safety for residents, staff, and visitors
• Explain procedures and strategies for planning, purchasing, and serving food
• Explain the proper procedures for safely assisting an individual in activities of daily living
• Explain procedures involved in caring for individuals with special needs
• Describe effective and appropriate care of an individual who is dying
• Explain proper care for infants and children in the home or residential setting
• Explain how to assist individuals in a home or residential environment
• Explain common preoperative and postoperative care procedures