Care associate vs health aide

The differences between care associates and health aides can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a care associate has an average salary of $32,558, which is higher than the $30,434 average annual salary of a health aide.

The top three skills for a care associate include patients, vital signs and PCA. The most important skills for a health aide are patients, home health, and community health.

Care associate vs health aide overview

	Care Associate	Health Aide
Yearly salary	$32,558	$30,434
Hourly rate	$15.65	$14.63
Growth rate	9%	36%
Number of jobs	192,391	121,842
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 38%	Bachelor's Degree, 28%
Average age	42	50
Years of experience	3	-

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 health aide do?

A health aide is responsible for providing care and assistance to patients in medical facilities, care centers, and even at home. They typically help patients by administering medicines, monitoring their blood pressure and vital signs, facilitating exercises, preparing meals, providing emotional support, and assisting them in performing hygienic tasks such as bathing, dressing, brushing teeth, and going to the toilet. Furthermore, as a health aide, it is essential to monitor the behavior and progress of patients, reporting to nurses and physicians regularly.

Care associate vs health aide salary

Care associates and health aides have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Care Associate	Health Aide
Average salary	$32,558	$30,434
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $48,000	Between $23,000 And $39,000
Highest paying City	Hollister, CA	Marysville, WA
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Washington
Best paying company	Analysis Group	Boston Medical Center
Best paying industry	Health Care	Education

Differences between care associate and health aide education

There are a few differences between a care associate and a health aide in terms of educational background:

	Care Associate	Health Aide
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 38%	Bachelor's Degree, 28%
Most common major	Nursing	Nursing
Most common college	-	-

Care associate vs health aide demographics

Here are the differences between care associates' and health aides' demographics:

	Care Associate	Health Aide
Average age	42	50
Gender ratio	Male, 22.3% Female, 77.7%	Male, 16.6% Female, 83.4%
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, 24.0% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 23.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 35.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	7%	5%

Differences between care associate and health aide 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.

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Health aide example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
Perform care plan documentation to effectively implement personal care, dietary needs, and ADL requirements.
Share health information with school staff and arrange training sessions for CPR certification and health care implementation.
Care consists of medication administration, helping with ADL'S if necessary with the students with significant needs.
Last school year, perform CPR on an adult volunteer and help resuscitate him and is doing just fine.
Document all physical condition, behavioral and mental illness changes in patients as well as procedures perform and medication administer.

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Care associate vs health aide skills

Common care associate skills

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

Common health aide skills

Patients, 32%
Home Health, 20%
Community Health, 7%
Vital Signs, 5%
Patient Care, 5%
CPR, 5%

Care Associate vs. similar jobs

Care Associate related careers

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Updated January 8, 2025

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