Nursing Care Facilities provide inpatient nursing, rehabilitation, and health-related personal care to those who need continuous nursing care, but do not require hospital services. Nursing aides provide the vast majority of direct care. Other facilities, such as convalescent homes, help patients who need less assistance. Residential Care Facilities provide around-the-clock social and personal care to children, the elderly, and others who have limited ability to care for themselves. Workers care for residents of assisted-living facilities, alcohol and drug rehabilitation centers, group homes, and halfway houses. Nursing and medical care, however, are not the main functions of establishments providing residential care, as they are in nursing care facilities. *

Skilled nursing or medical care is sometimes provided in the home, under a physician’s supervision. Home Health Care Services are provided mainly to the elderly. The development of in-home medical technologies, substantial cost savings, and patients’ preference for care in the home have helped change this once-small segment of the industry into one of the fastest growing parts of the economy. *

To learn more about the Nursing and Residential Care Facilities and Home Health career opportunities available to you, visit the Health Careers section of the website.

Or, to learn more about the industries that make up this segment of the Health Care cluster, visit the industry information links below.

• Nursing Home Facilities
• Residential Mental Health Facilities
• Community Care Facilities for the Elderly
• Home Health Care Services

* The 2006-07 Career Guide to Industries, U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics