Home health aide guide
A home health aide’s duties, the 13 skills every aide is trained in, what’s tested on a patient, and how nurses supervise aides, all based on the federal rules home health agencies follow.
The job
Aides work from a written plan. A registered nurse or other skilled professional assigns each aide to a patient and writes care instructions.
Personal care
Health tasks
Team member
Limits: every task must be ordered in the client’s plan of care, allowed by state law, and covered by the aide’s training. That’s why the exact duties vary by state and agency.
Training
Federal rules require training in all 13 subjects. Five of them must be shown on a real or pretend patient during the competency evaluation; the rest can be tested in writing, out loud, or in a simulation.
Supervision
Supervision depends on what other care the client gets.
| Client gets | Supervisory check | Aide observed on site |
|---|---|---|
| Skilled care (nursing, physical, occupational, or speech therapy) | At least every 14 days | At least once a year |
| Aide services only | RN visit at least every 60 days | At least twice a year |
If a nurse finds a problem with an aide’s care, the agency retrains the aide, and the aide must pass a new competency evaluation for those skills.
FAQ
Short answers to what people ask most.
Home health aides give hands-on personal care in clients' homes, like bathing, dressing, toileting, and help walking or moving. They also do simple procedures as an extension of nursing or therapy, help with medications clients take themselves, check vital signs, and report changes to a nurse.
Under federal rules, aides help with medications that are ordinarily self-administered. Whether an aide can do more depends on state law and the aide's training, so check your state's rules.
A registered nurse or other skilled professional assigns the aide, writes care instructions, and checks in. For patients getting skilled services, that happens at least every 14 days. For other patients, an RN visits at least every 60 days.
All 13 required subjects can be tested, but five must be shown on a real or pretend patient: communication, vital signs, personal hygiene and grooming, safe transfers, and range of motion.
"Caregiver" is a general term. A home health aide has completed approved training and a competency evaluation, which home health agencies need before the aide can work with their patients.