Care Assistant

Helping others live a good life is one of the noblest occupations a person can have. If you feel ready and willing to make a difference in somebody’s life, becoming a care assistant could be a fantastic move for you.

Be aware that some proper training will be required, but once you complete the training, a whole world of opportunities will open up in front of you, and you will be able to do so much good and help so many people.

Up for the health care job in Germany, Austria, Spain, Croatia or any other European country? 

Velju will find you the right opportunity! Before that, though, let’s take a closer look at what a health care assistant has to do.

What is a Patient Care Assistant?

A patient care assistant, health care assistant or simply care assistant, is a professional whose task is to help the patient with their basic needs. This can be done in a hospital, nursing home, or other similar institution that houses people who are not able to take care of themselves properly.

The elderly, cognitively impaired, or chronically ill may have a need for a health care assistant to help them with their everyday activities such as putting their clothes on, but these professionals also carry out basic laboratory tasks.

Skills and personal characteristics

The most important thing about this job is that you’re a kind and caring person. For many patients, just having somebody they can talk to and communicate in a friendly manner is a huge deal which will help them a lot.

You also need to be flexible and able to fairly quickly adapt to new situations that may arise because every new day on this job will bring along something different.

But the most important characteristic you need to have is that you’re reliable – in many cases, your patient will have nobody but you to help them with some fairly basic things, so they need to know you will always be there for them.

A Patient Care Assistent

Development and training

No university degree is required for this job, although you will have to go through some training in order to learn the best ways to approach different problems that your patients may encounter.

There are special care programs that provide you with a certificate once you complete them, which can certainly be of big help when looking for work.

However, the most important thing you need to advance and open new doors in this work is experience, so it is very much recommended you take up any opportunity that comes your way. With time, you will be able to command a higher salary and maybe even eventually become a registered nurse.

Care programs

How much do care assistants make?

As always, when discussing wages, there will be quite significant differences throughout the European countries, and the UK has to be taken into consideration, as well. In the only country that has ever left the union, care assistants earn somewhere around 17,000 GBP per year. This translates to about 9 GBP per hour.

In Ireland, however, care assistants earn on average more than 13 EUR per hour, whereas in Germany they will make around 10.50 EUR per hour.
Italy has the average rate for this job set at approximately 9 EUR at the moment, the same as Spain, whereas in Portugal, the rate is down to 6 EUR per hour.

Obviously, there are many other countries to take into consideration, but this should certainly give you some idea of what kind of salary to expect.

Health Care Assistant

What are the benefits of becoming a health care assistant?

The benefits of being a health care assistant are quite numerous, but chief among them is the fact that you can have a huge positive impact on somebody’s life. In fact, many patients, especially the elderly, will think of you as a friend, maybe even a member of the family.

However, there are more palpable benefits, too. The demand for this kind of worker is growing, and many employers will offer to start your training for the job immediately.

Additionally, most possibly your working hours will be flexible, depending on what your patients need each day, plus there will probably be plenty of opportunities to move up the ladder.

FAQ

These are essentially two same jobs. There are no differences between them, so when you come across an ad for a carer, you can most certainly apply if you’re a care assistant.

Being a care assistant can be extremely rewarding, especially if you have a strong drive to help others and have a positive impact on their lives. People that you take care of will always be incredibly grateful to you, and the same goes for their families. 

Furthermore, a perk of this job is that employers usually immediately provide training for it, so you can be sure you will always be properly educated.

No matter your skill set or experience, with Velju, you’ll be able to find a role that best suits you and get to work sooner.

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