Medical Assistant vs. Nurse

A medical assistant is a professional who focuses on scheduling, clerical, and billing tasks, while a nurse is more focused on patient care.

Medical assistants may work in doctors' offices, hospitals, or other medical facilities. Their job centers around many administrative duties. They may be tasked with reaching out to patients to schedule appointments or follow-up care. Medical assistants also have a role in bookkeeping and billing. Most of their duties are performed at a desk in a medical facility.

Nurses have a much more active role in the physical aspect of a patient's care. They may also work in doctors' offices, hospitals, or other medical facilities. Many times they are responsible for taking a patient's vitals and gathering other critical information that can then be passed on to a doctor. In a hospital setting, nurses are usually the first point of contact when ill patients are convalescing there.

Here are the key differences between a medical assistant and a nurse:

• A medical assistant works primarily behind a desk or at a medical station and spends a lot of time on the phone

• A nurse primarily moves around a lot for their job, checking in on multiple patients

• A medical assistant focuses on scheduling, clerical and billing tasks in a doctor's office

• A nurse has to focus on hands-on patient care

• Nurses generally have higher salaries than medical assistants

• Medical assistants require less education and training than nurses