How to Get a Job in Home Health Care and Keep It

Home health care is a highly demanding field. Caring for clients is time consuming and physically challenging. I have cerebral palsy and use a wheelchair during most of my day. I have lived independently for several years and have hired and fired dozens of home health aides for a variety of reasons.

Home health is a very exacting profession. If you are not prepared for standards that are most often very high due to the health and well-being of clients at the center of home health, it is best to choose another career path. The information that will follow is intended to help potential home health workers get and keep a job and earn excellent references for the future.

The advice contained in this article will be blunt and will seem obvious to most but it is shocking how many people this simple information evades and how many of those people enter home health care. The advice given here are the building blocks to a successful career as a home health professional. Being a successful home health aide starts with simple consideration and common sense.

Be On Time

Obviously, when you are hired to help someone with their health and personal care needs, time is of the essence. If someone is waiting on you to be bathed, dressed, toileted, or given some type of treatment prompt arrival at work is absolutely vital. Some employers may have a personal window of lenience that they can tolerate physically others may not. This means you may be allowed to arrive a few minutes early or late occasionally but this should be discussed at your interview and least seven days before the time allowance is needed.

Any time you anticipate possibly being late call your employer, and let them know immediately. If during said phone call you say you'll be at work in 20 minutes make sure you arrive roughly within that amount of time. Don't allow 20 minutes to turn into an hour and a half. If you do you'll be lucky to be allowed to call in or come in late and still have a job; people at other jobs don't get such opportunities.

Be Considerate

Showing consideration to your employer goes a long way toward keeping a job in home health care. Of course, I do not condone an employer being inconsiderate or rude to anyone, but the difficulty of the job is no excuse for ill-treatment of clients and their time or space. Always be considerate of the circumstances of your clients. Their health, comfort and well-being should be your foremost thought while working. Care for them as you would care for yourself or your loved ones. Treat their home as you would your own.

For example, when bathing someone, be through as you would with your own body. Be sure however to pay attention to any special instructions given during your training or a particular visit; regardless of the task. Simply put, because someone has a disability does not mean they don't care about their hygiene or appearance.

Showing respect to your client's home is also paramount. Their house or apartment may just be a work space to you, but when you are done with your shift it is their home. Your work space will be their home first; your place of work last. Respecting them just as you would an able-bodied employer will help you achieve an excellent working relationship with your new employer.

Simple consideration, manners, and compassion are the key to getting and keeping a job in the home health care. If you are ever in doubt of what to do in a home health job; just think the one day you or someone you love will more than likely need home health care to some degree. Place yourself in the position of your clients and their loved ones. What would you want if you, your mother, father, son or daughter needed in home health care? Most likely, you'd want the best care possible from them.