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Home Health Aide scores #6 on hot career rankings

Hot New Career #6 - Home Health Aide

While not exactly a new profession, home health aides are seeing increasing opportunities. Not only does the population continue to grow, but healthy retirees are now living longer and often need a part-time or full-time home health aide to take care of them. Nursing training programs can help you gain a foothold in this coming of age career track.

Related Degrees:Licensed Practical / Vocational NursingNursing CertificationNursing (ASN, BSN, MSN)

Average Salaries:Home Health Aides: $25,000Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses: $39,030Registered Nurses: $62,450

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From the Yahoo! article here: 
http://education.yahoo.net/articles/breakout_new_careers.htm?kid=1A8G8

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Choosing the Perfect Nursing Home

Choosing the perfect nursing home for a loved one in need can be stressful decision. Learning how to research and compare homes along with the pitfalls to watch out for will enable you to make your choice with confidence when the time comes to decide on an assisted living or home health care center for a loved one who needs a level of care you cannot provide on your own.

Be prepared for sticker shock. Nursing homes cost an average of $200 a day, and Medicare will only cover medically necessary care like IV medicines or physical therapy. Most residents will have to rely on personal savings, insurance policies or possibly Medicaid.

Use publicly available data, like this site, but don’t rely on it too much. Rankings can only reflect the performance of a home during a short period, and state inspections tend to overlook both the home’s deficiencies and the seriousness of those deficiencies. At the same time, Medicare always gives the top 10% of the homes in a their highest rating of 5 stars, so a nearly equivalent home might get knocked down to 4 stars, or up to 5 by sake of their placement on the curve. Just know the nursing home could easily be better or worse than the rating might suggest.

Visit the nursing home often, and trust yourself. Appearance and smells provide helpful clues into the quality of the facility. Check in on different days, and at difference times of the day to get a real feel for how the center operates. Use a checklist, and meet with the people in charge. Be wary if you can’t get in contact with the executive director, lead physician or head nurse. When possible, attend council meetings run by residents or family members.

Find out if the nursing home provides “person-centered care,” which allows the resident to keep their own schedules rather than the traditional approach of having everyone wake up, eat and go to bed at the same times.

“Consistent assignment” is another management approach to look for, which attempts to have the same staff treat the same patients each day. The better continuity of care can provide for better relationships with care takers, along with fewer problems and mistakes.