Direct Care Workers

Direct Care Workers

About the Profession

The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love
Iowa CareGivers

What is a Direct Care Worker?

Click Image to Access Web Page

According to Iowa CareGivers, Direct Care Worker/Professional is an umbrella name for one of the largest sectors of the workforce in Iowa. Direct care professionals are defined as individuals who provide supportive services and care to people experiencing health conditions, illnesses, or disabilities and receive compensation for such services. They work in home-based, community-based, or facility settings.

Vital Role of Direct Care Workers

The need for Iowa direct care workers is expected to increase 19% by the year 2040, which further escalates concern of workforce’s growing shortage. Di Findley, Iowa CareGivers executive director, recently discussed who direct care workers are and the services they provide, their critical role in providing care and support for older Iowans and people with disabilities, and how to learn more about direct care professions on “Mission: Employable”, an Iowa Workforce Development podcast.

Direct Care Workers can have many different professional titles.

Illustration courtesy of Iowa CareGivers

Click on the issue brief above to find out more about what it means to be a direct care worker.

History of the Direct Care Workforce

Click Image to Access Document

Illustration courtesy of Iowa CareGivers

Impact of the Direct Care Workforce

Illustration courtesy of Iowa CareGivers

Resources

The HUB features articles by and about direct care workers. However, health and long term care employers, family caregivers, individuals served, advocates, and others find the information to be very useful.

Opportunities in Health Sciences Iowa Career Pathways

Click Image to Access Document

Direct Care Worker Profiles are included in the Opportunities in Health Sciences Iowa Career Pathways booklet produced by the Iowa Department of Education. Information included is a description of direct care worker professions, salary information, educational requirements, and much more.

National Resources

Click Image to Access Web Page

The Commonwealth Fund promotes a high-performing, equitable health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including people of color, people with low income, and those who are uninsured. The Fund carries out this mandate by supporting independent research on health care issues and making grants to improve health care practice and policy.

Click Image to Access Web Page

Center for Health Care Strategies works to improve health outcomes for the millions of people in the U.S. who face serious barriers to well-being, like poverty, complex health and social needs, and systemic racism. For more than 25 years, we have collaborated with Medicaid and related health and human services agencies in states across the country to shape how health care services are designed, financed, and delivered

Click Image to Access Web Page

The National Academy for State Health Policy is committed to developing and advancing state health policy innovations and solutions. In partnership with The John A. Hartford Foundation and the RRF Foundation for Aging the NASHP produced RAISE Act State Policy Roadmap for Family Caregivers.

Click to Access Document

Click Image to Access Web Page

The PHI works to transform eldercare and disability services. We foster dignity, respect, and independence—for all who receive care, and all who provide it. As the nation’s leading authority on the direct care workforce, PHI promotes quality direct care jobs as the foundation for quality care. PHI host's The National Direct Care Workforce Resource Center, an online library of information on the direct care workforce.

Training

Direct Care and Support Curriculum

Core Free Online TrainingCore training teaches basic foundation knowledge and an introduction to the Direct Care Worker profession. Participants will learn:

Professionalism
Person-centered approach
Infection control
Communication and interpersonal skills
Documentation
Mobility assistance and worker safety

This training is ideal for all direct care professionals.

Enroll Here

Short & Long-term Industry Projections Interactive Dashboard

Click Image to Access Web Page

Industry Projections Dashboards are courtesy of the Iowa Workforce Development.

Click Image to Access Web Page

IowaWorks is a one-stop shop for career exploration, job search, resume builder, and much more!

Click Image to Access Web Page

Certified Nurse Assistant

Click Image to Access Web Page

Home Health Aide

Click Image to Access Web Page

Patient Care Technician

Apprenticeships

Iowa Registered
Apprenticeship Programs

Nurse Assistant
Provide basic patient care under direction of nursing staff. Perform duties such as feed, bathe, dress, groom, or move patients, or change linens. May transfer or transport patients. Includes nursing care attendants, nursing aides, and nursing attendants.

Certified Nursing Assistant
Hawkeye Community College offers a three-level Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Apprenticeship Program. This program was developed to meet the needs of area employers who are seeking a training program to fulfill the need for healthcare professionals. This program combines classroom instruction and on-the-job work experience to prepare employees for work in the healthcare field.

Home Health Aide
Provide routine individualized healthcare such as changing bandages and dressing wounds, and applying topical medications to the elderly, convalescents, or persons with disabilities at the patient's home or in a care facility. Monitor or report changes in health status. May also provide personal care such as bathing, dressing, and grooming of patient.

Hawkeye Community College Healthcare Apprenticeships

Home Health Aide
Hawkeye Community College offers a three-level Home Health Aide Apprenticeship Program. This program was developed to meet the needs of area employers who are seeking a training program to fulfill the need for healthcare professionals in the home healthcare setting. This program combines classroom instruction and on-the-job work experience.

Apprenticeship Programs at UnityPoint Health Des Moines and UnityPoint Clinic

Patient Care Tech (PCT)
Patient Care Techs help patients with direct health care needs, often under the supervision of a Registered Nurse. PCTs are also referred to as nursing assistants. PCT apprentices begin working on a nursing floor after taking the Basic Nurse Aide course at one of two approved training programs in Des Moines. During the first year of employment, apprentices will also take the Advance Nurse Aide course.

Gov. Reynolds announces $2.45M in awards for Iowa Health Careers Registered Apprenticeship Grant Program

This program, based on the Nursing/Patient Care program at the Career Academy of Pella, follows an innovative learning model that introduces health care opportunities to high school students with the support of virtual reality training and real-world work experience with a local nursing facility and hospital.  This announcement includes an investment in virtual reality technology for training through the health care related registered apprenticeship programs. These grants will serve 22 school districts, 16 of which this is their first-ever registered apprenticeship program within their school, and fund 450 apprentices. For more information on the awardees and related registered apprenticeship programs, visit earnandlearniowa.gov/funding. Funding is made available through the American Rescue Plan Act.