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Caregiver Job Description

Kritika Parwani
A caregiver is a person who looks after the needs of elderly persons, infants or disabled people. If you have always been interested in the health care industry, then read on for more information on caregiver's work profile.
A caregiver is a person who is responsible for attending to the needs of an infant, elderly person or a disabled person. Caregivers play an important role in the health care industry, however, they are not always given their due recognition.
Caregivers ensure that infants, disabled or elderly people are well taken care of in their home, food and safety. If you have a maternal instinct and are interested in the health care industry, then a caregiver's job can be a great option for you. Let us find out more about the caregiver's work profile.

Responsibilities:

The duties of a caregiver are very vast. Caregivers generally work in patients' homes and help virtually with any task. They helping seniors, infants or disabled clients in receiving proper nutrition by planning and preparing their meals and doing grocery shopping.
Caregivers basically help in cleaning, taking them for errands and any other daily activity they need help with. Besides these, if working for the elderly, the job involves all the necessary duties of senior health care, which including monitoring their vital signs and maintaining a log book.
If caring for a child, the job involves meeting the physical and emotional needs of the child by providing social interaction and playing games that encourage skill development and reading.

Qualifications:

There is no particular qualification needed for becoming a caregiver. Lot of caregivers receive on the job training. However, some may undergo nurse aid training at a vocational or community college. The nurse aid training generally is for a period of six months and includes learning skills such as taking vital signs, record keeping and patient care skills.
Besides that, The National Association For Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), offers a voluntary certification course that needs seventy-five hours of course work. This course is similar to the certified nursing assistant course which is offered by many states.

Salary:

Though there is a considerable amount of work involved, the salaries for caregiver's job are not very high. As per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary of a caregiver is about $23,363 per year. However, infant caregivers sometimes receive health benefits or if they are live-in caregivers, then they usually receive free rooming and boarding.

Shortcomings:

Being a caregiver can be exhausting as it involves long hours and hard work. Working hours of a shift can vary from 4 hours to 12 hours, as per the patients' needs and the caregiver's duties. In some cases, as they are live-in caregivers, their job can be a full-time job. If you intend to be a caregiver you have to be ready for long shifts and hard work.

Advancement and Scope:

Due to increased life expectancy, need for caregivers will never diminish. Research shows that most people prefer to hire a certified or licensed caregiver. They may apply for jobs in nursing homes, as private physical therapists or other health care jobs.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the jobs of caregivers are going to increase by 41% between 2016 and 2026. They can continue their nursing education for about a year and become a licensed practical nurse. If the ultimate goal is to become a registered nurse, you'll need an associate degree of 2 years or even a bachelor's degree of about 4 years.
This was a general overview of the job description of caregivers. If you have always been career planning in the health care industry and have a nurturing nature then being a caregiver can be a very rewarding and satisfactory job.