Adult care is a very broad field and can also be among the most rewarding. The area comprises a mix of various important disciplines that are collectively aimed at improving the quality of life for those who need dedicated assistance – whether that be due to illness, disability, or simply old age.
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If you’ve only just started to think about adult care may be your calling, you’re likely a bit bewildered by all of the different avenues you could walk down. In this article, you’ll learn of the main roles associated with working in adult care, where they lead, leaving you armed with the key knowledge you need to start your new career!
Direct Care Roles
If you want to work directly with the client in a hands-on capacity, there are a couple of different areas you could potentially go into:
Personal Care Assistants
In more ways than one, personal care assistants form the backbone of a well-adjusted care team in any setting. It’s their responsibility to manage the personal hygiene and day-to-day assistance of a client, and the role can often extend to aspects like meal preparation and outdoor supervision.
Great people skills are a must in this position as it’s crucial that the client develops a high level of trust; they need to be wholly comfortable with their personal care assistant, and it’s their job to establish that bond over time. Of course, strong communication skills are also a must.
Nursing Assistants
Nursing Assistants play somewhat of a similar role to Personal Care Assistants, though there is a greater focus on meeting the acute medical needs of a client.
Nursing assistants work alongside doctors and nurses to supervise any medical interventions that the client needs, being there to provide after care following an operation and also to administer medications. Many times, this role is used as a platform to go deeper down the medical route.
Support Roles
High-quality direct care is always enveloped by a dedicated support network comprising many different roles. Where direct care provides immediate attention, support staff are there in the background ensuring everything runs smoothly. Here are the main roles to consider:
Adult Residential Facility (ARF) Administrators
ARF administrators maintain a very important role in managing the logistics of an adult care facility. It’s their job to take a birds-eye view of the place and to ensure everything is ticking over smoothly.
This can include everything from making sure the building itself is well maintained and safe, to making sure everyone is following the relevant rules and regulations to the letter.
ARF administration is a critical component of any adult residential facility for this reason: it’s a role that requires a deep understanding of not only all aspects of managing a business with many different moving parts, but also of the inherent complexities of dealing with vulnerable people.
Given the scope of this position, they’ll also have to periodically go through a series of ARF administrator recertification classes to make sure their standard of knowledge regarding each component remains high.
Social Workers
Social work is a core role in any adult care facility: they’re there to interact with clients to discover what care best suits their individual needs, and make sure that they have access to all the facility has to offer.
Essentially, they’re an advocate for the patient, making sure they are happy and content. Anyone who enters adult care is not only there to maintain their quality of life, but also to improve it, and social workers are their to help guide them toward that end.
Deciding Which Role Is Best for You
To decide which role is best for you, you’ll need to take a step back and consider how your personality fits the roles above. Are you a natural-born caregiver with great people skills?
Then direct, personal care may be the best option for you. Are you good at problem-solving, multitasking, and organizing plans and regimes? Then social work or ARF administration may be a good fit.
There are also other specialized roles such as registered nursing, occupational therapy, and more that you could also consider, but these four areas provide a good starting point for figuring out what direction you may want to head into.
Keep an open mind and reach out to those already in the business: in most cases, they’ll be more than happy to advise (as always, networking is incredibly important no matter what field you hope to go into).
Final Words on Working In Adult Care
If you’re a compassionate and caring person, there’s a role for you in adult care. Hopefully, this article has given you the rundown of what sort of roles you can expect to find in the industry, and has inspired you to get started!
