Care associate vs certified medical technician

The differences between care associates and certified medical technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-3 months to become a care associate, becoming a certified medical technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a certified medical technician has an average salary of $38,859, which is higher than the $32,558 average annual salary of a care associate.

The top three skills for a care associate include patients, vital signs and PCA. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.

Care associate vs certified medical technician overview

	Care Associate	Certified Medical Technician
Yearly salary	$32,558	$38,859
Hourly rate	$15.65	$18.68
Growth rate	9%	5%
Number of jobs	192,391	164,424
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 38%	Bachelor's Degree, 28%
Average age	42	44
Years of experience	3	12

What does a care associate do?

Patient care associates typically work at different healthcare settings where their primary job is to provide basic patient needs and comfort. They are also responsible for several patient care tasks, including bathing patients, changing the pillows and bedsheets of patients, and serving patients' meals. They should comply with safety protocols when performing these tasks. Some of them can give patients medication depending on the level of their training. To become a patient care specialist, one should possess several skills, such as good communication.

What does a certified medical technician do?

Certified Medical Technicians are specialists in medical diagnoses by performing laboratory testing and analysis for hospitals and physicians. Their duties include lab sanitization to prepare for testing and collection, recording medical samples for testing, specimen preparation, blood drawing for donation and testing, and assisting physicians with sample collection as well as equipment handling in surgical rooms. They must also understand how to use complex and sensitive testing equipment such as cell counters, analyzers, microscopes, and centrifuges.

Care associate vs certified medical technician salary

Care associates and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Care Associate	Certified Medical Technician
Average salary	$32,558	$38,859
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $48,000	Between $28,000 And $53,000
Highest paying City	Hollister, CA	Denton, TX
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Alaska
Best paying company	Analysis Group	Favorite Healthcare Staffing
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between care associate and certified medical technician education

There are a few differences between a care associate and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:

	Care Associate	Certified Medical Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 38%	Bachelor's Degree, 28%
Most common major	Nursing	Nursing
Most common college	-	University of Connecticut

Care associate vs certified medical technician demographics

Here are the differences between care associates' and certified medical technicians' demographics:

	Care Associate	Certified Medical Technician
Average age	42	44
Gender ratio	Male, 22.3% Female, 77.7%	Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 7.8% White, 62.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 15.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 10.0% White, 53.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	7%	8%

Differences between care associate and certified medical technician duties and responsibilities

Care associate example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
Provide direct care to patients in intensive care unit with empathy, compassion and enthusiasm.
Utilize strong interpersonal skills to educate patients on procedures, rehabilitation and contraception methods.
Care for patients requiring telemetry monitoring and work collaboratively with telemetry technician/nurses to detect and report abnormalities to physicians.
Coordinate with clinicians to meet the specific needs of patients and perform clinical care in an ICU.
Assign to new ER and ICU departments by leadership to maintain quality of patient care and increase patient satisfaction.

Certified medical technician example responsibilities.

Maintain the cleanliness of storage areas, trays, centrifuges, refrigerators, freezers and work area.
Administer medications to patients according to their medication record as scheduled, as needed according to physician orders.
Perform laboratory test and procedures in areas including chemistry, hematology, urinalysis, coagulation, serology, and bacteriology.
Perform first aid and apply CPR when necessary.
Perform first aid or CPR during medical emergencies until paramedics arrive.
Assist the residents in their ADL needs and prepare their meals.

Care associate vs certified medical technician skills

Common care associate skills

Patients, 24%
Vital Signs, 11%
PCA, 7%
Phlebotomy, 7%
CPR, 7%
Customer Service, 5%

Common certified medical technician skills

Patients, 17%
Vital Signs, 12%
CPR, 8%
Administer Medications, 7%
Resident Care, 6%
HIPAA, 6%

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Healthcare Support Industry
Care Associate
Care Associate vs Certified Medical Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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