Job Summary:
Under the direction of the home care or Hospice Clinician, assists patients with personal care and activities of daily living. Performs special patient care tasks and household duties as instructed by the home care or Hospice Clinician. Responsible for recording services provided and obtaining patient signatures.

Responsibilities:

• Assists patients with personal hygiene and grooming, in as safe, clean and

healthy an environment as possible.

• Follows Agency policy with regard to infection control and universal

precautions without exception.

• Provides appropriate and safe techniques of personal hygiene procedures to

include bed bath, sponge bath, tub or shower bath, hair shampoo in sink, tub
or bed, nail and skin care, toileting and elimination, following plan of care
developed by case manager.

• Accepts responsibility for and adapts readily to care needs of the specialized

patient population as directed by the nurse, therapist or social worker in
an appropriate and safe manner.

• Assists patients with rehabilitation services, including exercises, ambulation,

transfer activities and positioning, after proper instructions from Clinician in an
appropriate and safe manner.

• Assists patients with medications that are ordinarily self-administered.

• Reminds patient of timeliness of medication order but does not administer

medicine.

• Recognizes and reports promptly to Clinician or Supervisor, any emergencies

or changes in the mental and physical status of the patient.

• Helps promote patients' mental alertness through conversation, reading, games and other activities.

• Performs other duties in support of Home Health Aide Department and Agency.

• Works weekend, holiday, and extended hours, in a responsible and competent

manner, displaying a professional attitude, to meet patient care needs.

• Flexible and timely in completion of assignments; reports necessary changes

• promptly and appropriately.

• Attends three (3) hours of in-service education per quarter, (totaling twelve (12) hours per year, or which six (6) hours relate to Hospice topics) pro-rated according to date of hire including mandatory in-services i.e. Hospice, OSHA, Ethics, etc.

• Participates in case conferences as needed.

• Performs household responsibilities to assist patients in developing and

maintaining as clean and healthy an environment as possible.

• Performs appropriate light household chores i.e. dishes, dusting, personal

laundry, changing of bed linen, in a thorough, safe fashion related to patient
care.

• Prepares or assists with nutritious meals and prescribed diets. Feeds patient

when necessary, according to plan of care, in a hygienic manner.

• Maintains and records proper fluid intake as reflected in plan of care.

• Tidies kitchen, bedroom and bathroom in patient care areas to ensure

cleanliness, and safety of patient.

• Observes for patient safety in their environment and alerts the Clinician or

• Supervisor of potential risks. Records services provided and observations of patient status in an appropriate, accurate, and legible manner, in accordance with plan of care initiated by clinician.

• Accurately prepares Home Health Aide Daily Narrative form with required

patient identification, time and date of visit, and activities performed on a daily
basis.

• Signs each visit narrative and obtains patient or family members signature to

verify each visit at the time of visit. Submits completed, accurate and legible narrative to Home Health Aide Department on a weekly basis.

• Completes weekly time sheet accurately and legibly, and submits to Home

Health Aide Department in a timely fashion.

• Responsible to obtain and follow patient schedules as assigned. (5%)

• Responsible to pick up schedule on Fridays prior to the start of work week

on Saturday. If on vacation, contacts Supervisor/Scheduler or picks up
schedule prior to seeing patients.

• Follows schedule as printed unless directed by Supervisor/Scheduler.

• Calls into Supervisor/Scheduler if unable to follow schedule as printed, prior to

scheduled visit.

• Demonstrate understanding of after hour procedures, and educate patients to

on-call / after hours coverage.