Home Health Aide Certification in Missouri

There are actually quite a few health careers in the medical field, and not all of them require years of studying and a bachelor’s degree. To become a home health aide, you usually only need a few weeks or a few months’ worth of training before you can start working with patients. Home health aides (HHAs), who are also known as personal care aides, look after patients who cannot care for themselves. This can be because they are too old and frail, or because they have a disability of some kind. It is a job that requires kindness and patience but can be very rewarding.

Licensing Requirements in Missouri

In the US, some states require you to become a certified nursing assistant before you can practice as a home health aide.

Thankfully, this is not a requirement in Missouri. But, you will need to at least have a home health aide certification if you want to work at a licensed home health agency in Missouri.

How To Get Health Aide Certification In Missouri

To become certified as a home health aide in Missouri, you can go the standard route, and go through a home health aide training program. Otherwise, you can also choose to become a certified nursing assistant (CNA). This will allow you to practice as a home health aide and provide you with more job opportunities, as you will be able to perform more skilled nursing services.

In Missouri, to get home health aide certification, you will need a high school diploma to go through a home health aide training program. The training program you choose will also need to consist of at least 75 hours of training. These 75 hours must include at least 16 hours of supervised practical clinical training.

After completing one of these training programs, you will be given a Home Health Aide certificate of completion. You will also be registered on the Missouri Home Health Aide/ Nurse Aide registry.

Home health aides do not need to take any exams to become certified, and will receive their certifications after they complete a training program.

If you want to become a CNA, you will need to go through a training course and complete the Missouri State exam. It is called the National Nurse Aide Assessment Program (NNAAP).

Best Education Programs For Home Health Aides In Missouri

There aren’t any HHA schools in Missouri that offer training for personal care aides. Instead, there are plenty of schools that offer training for other health careers that will still qualify students to work as home health aides.

With this information out of the way, the best schools for home health aides in Missouri are:

Concorde Career College

Concorde Career College is located in Kansas City, MO, but it also has a few other locations around the country. The school offers a diploma in vocational nursing that can be completed in as little as 13 months.

The program trains students to be slightly more qualified than a CNA, which is why it is 13 months long. However, you will need to complete a certification exam if you want to practice as a licensed vocational nurse.

If you complete the program and choose not to take the exam, you can still practice as a home health aide.

St. Louis College of Health Careers

The St. Louis College of Health Careers has schools in both St. Louis, MO, and Fenton, MO. It offers a 160-hour Patient Care Technician Program that will give you the training you need to work as a home health aide, but will also give you the knowledge you need to take the CNA certification exam.

Some of the course material you can expect to see includes medical terminology, how to draw blood, and how to measure the vital signs of a patient.

Crowder Community College

Crowder Community College is in Neosho, MO. The school offers a CNA training course that will still allow students to practice as home health aides once they have completed it. It also prepares them to take the NNAAP exam if they wish to do so.

Job Outlook

The job outlook for personal care aides is very promising in the United States. There are already a massive number of job opportunities, and the US Bureau of Labor has predicted that even more will open up in the years to come.

The USBL has projected home health aide jobs to increase by a whopping 25% from 2021 to 2031. This means that it will be easy to find work, as there will be around 711,700 new job openings every year.

Salary Expectations

Unfortunately, personal care aides aren’t paid very well for their services in Missouri. The average wage for a personal care aide in Missouri is $25,520. However, the national annual salary range for personal care aides is $29,260.

If you want to earn more as a personal care aide, you should probably consider practicing in another state. Massachusetts offers similar requirements for personal care aides but pays them much better on average.

Where To Find Work

There are many job opportunities for home health aides, and you should be able to find work at any of the following facilities:

Assisted living facilities
Nursing homes
Group homes
Home health agencies

FAQs

Is working as a personal care aide hard work?

Yes, working as a personal care aide can be very demanding. You often have to look after frail patients that need to be cared for at all times. This care often means cooking for, dressing, and bathing the patients that you work with.

Can you progress as a personal care aide?

Yes, it is possible for you to move up the ladder as a personal care aide. However, you will need to either study to be a CNA or a registered nurse. This will allow you to pursue higher-paying jobs that have more skilled nursing requirements.

Sources

https://www.healthcarepathway.com/home-health/missouri-home-health-aide/

https://www.vocationaltraininghq.com/hha-schools-missouri/

https://homehealthaideguide.com/hha-training/states/missouri-hha/

http://www.homehealthaideonline.com/home/hha-training-in-missouri/

https://www.phinational.org/advocacy/home-health-aide-training-requirements-state-2016/

https://www.exploremedicalcareers.com/home-health-aide/hha-missouri/

https://medicalfieldcareers.com/hha-classes-missouri/