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Although being a paid caregiver has many more benefits than being a non-paid caregiver, it still has its cons :

Caregivers, health care in general, is underpaid : The average pay for home health aids nationally is $13.50. That is less than Arizona's minimum wage. This lack of pay is said to be due to the lack of protection for the people in caregiving.

High stress occupation : Older adults can be fragile and more susceptible to illness and injury. One step out of line and your recipient could really suffer. With these stakes, it makes caregiving a very stressful job.

Physical demand : There is a great aspect of physical demand when being a caregiver, you are very much on you feet for your whole shift. On top of that, you may need to live heavy objects or your recipient, putting physical strain on you body.

Exposure to sickness : As people age, their immune systems decline. Similar to a child's immune system, with a weak resistance to illness your recipient can get suck much easier, putting you at risk for illness.

Burnout : As noted in family caregiving, burnout is a famous term used throughout all types of health care. There are many tough aspects of being a caregiver such as losing a recipient that you gave your all too. It can severely impact the caregiver emotionally and mentally, creating the phenomena of "burnout".

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14 Pros and Cons of Being a Home Health Aide

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Are you thinking of entering the field of home health care? If so, learn the pros and cons of being an HHA here.

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How does one actually become a paid caregiver?

There are many different routes to becoming a paid caregiver, in the state of Arizona :

Credentials : In Arizona, to become a caregiver you can either become a CNA (certified nursing assistant) or a HHA (home health aide). These can be achieved through community colleges or sometimes Red Cross.

Background check : Anyone who is working in a caregiving setting must receive a background check

Improving certification : For certain skills, like drawing blood etc, you may need to complete other certifications, in this case phlebotomy.

Job Search : Now that you have received your certification, you are eligible to look for jobs either in nursing homes, private homes, assisted living, hospitals, and hospices

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Family caregiving is around the clock, and never really has a "clock in" or "clock out" time. Therefore, what does caregiving look like when your doing it in shifts? For this example, i will be using a nursing home as the place of work for a formal caregiver :

Clock in : Shifts tend to be 8-12 hours long, similar to nurse's hours working in a hospital. These longer shifts are intended to give the caregiver enough time to provide proficient care to the recipient.

Daily Tasks : Depending on your skill or profession (CNA v Nurse, etc), the daily tasks you may be given might vary.

Health professionals : direct care, care planning, communicating with the recipients family, drawing blood, administering medications.

CNA/PCT/Certified caregivers : Bathing, feeding ,dressing , helping complete daily activities, monitor vitals, etc.

Clock out: Usually, because the shifts in the nursing homes are so long, the average amount of hours per week is between 36-40 hours. In Tucson, you would make around $18 an hour working in a nursing home.

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The Role of Nurses in Nursing Homes | Brooks Rehabilitation Careers

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The nursing home environment offers the chance to positively impact our elderly, whether you are a fresh nursing graduate or a seasoned nurse.

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There are many benefits of being a paid caregiver. The most obvious one of course is the fact that you are being paid for your work. Evidently, caregiving is such a taxing yet fulfilling role. Millions of people do it all over the world unpaid, therefore the most rewarding benefit of it all would most likely be being compensated for all of your hard work.

There are also many other benefits that go into formal caregiving :

Scheduling : Due to the fact that this would be a career, you are able to choose your schedule / holidays off. This enables time with family and friends, separate from caregiving.

Gaining healthcare experience : Many introductory health care programs are related to caregiving. If you wanted to progress in health care, caregiving would be a great place to start.

Improved consistent quality of care : As stated previously, family caregiving is a very challenging job for family members, especially when they are not getting paid. They suffer from caregiver burn out, compassion fatigue and much more. With formal care, you are able to ensure that these recipients are getting the best care you can give.

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Dada Home Care | The official website of Dada Home Care — Family Wellness Program | CDPAP

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10 Benefits of Becoming a Paid Caregiver for Your Loved One | Dada Home Care

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Caring for a loved one is a profound and rewarding experience. Here, we explore the numerous benefits of becoming a caregiver through this program.

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Paid caregivers are people who are completing the same duties as family/informal caregivers, except they are getting paid/that is their job.

They may have certain certifications to work in nursing homes or even in home care. These certifications may also allow them to perform certain tasks like drawing blood.

Formal caregivers can be among different types of professions :

Nurses

Social Workers

Doctors

Occupational Therapists

Physiotherapists

CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant)

PCT (Patient Care Technician)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Jia Li

2. Department of Social Work, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China

Yajun Song

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yajun Song .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

1. Population Division, UN Dept of Economic Social Affairs Population Division, New York, NY, USA

Danan Gu

2. School of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, USA

Matthew E. Dupre

Section Editor information

Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Xue Bai

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Cite this entry

Li, J., Song, Y. (2019). Formal and Informal Care. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_847-1

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_847-1

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Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

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'Formal and Informal Care' published in 'Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging'