Personal Care Aides
What do they do?
Provide personalized assistance to individuals with disabilities or illness who require help with personal care and activities of daily living support (e.g., feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and ambulation). May also provide help with tasks such as preparing meals, doing light housekeeping, and doing laundry. Work is performed in various settings depending on the needs of the care recipient and may include locations such as their home, place of work, out in the community, or at a daytime nonresidential facility.
Also known as:
Aide, Care Provider, Caregiver, Companion, Direct Care Worker, Direct Support Professional (DSP), Home Care Aide, Medication Aide, Patient Care Assistant (PCA), Personal Attendant, Personal Care Aide, Personal Care Assistant (PCA), Personal Care Attendant (PCA), Resident Assistant, Resident Care Assistant (RCA)
Projected Employment Rankings For Virginia:
-
36.9%
Percent Change
Ranks #N/A in job growth rate -
8,660
Annual Projected Job Openings
Ranks #N/A in net job growth
Select Type of Degree:
Majors that prepare Personal Care Aides:
★ Number of granted degrees for degree type, All, is listed after the major.
Colleges with the most graduates that become Personal Care Aides:
- Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts-Boulder
- NUC University
- Ivy Tech Community College
- East Los Angeles College
- College of Lake County
- El Camino Community College District
Best colleges for Personal Care Aides:
- Johnson & Wales University-Providence
- Johnson & Wales University-Charlotte
- Unity College
- Colorado Mesa University
- Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez
- Monroe College
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People in this career often have these skills:
- Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
People in this career often know a lot about:
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
People in this career often have talent in:
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
People in this career often do these activities:
- Administer basic health care or medical treatments.
- Document client health or progress.
- Maintain client information or service records.
- Monitor health or behavior of people or animals.
- Develop plans for programs or services.
- Provide counsel, comfort, or encouragement to individuals or families.
This page includes data from:
Career data: O*NET 26.3 Database
by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (“USDOL/ETA”). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA
Occupation statistics: USDOL U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics
