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The differences between certified medical assistants/certified nurse assistants and health care assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a certified medical assistant/certified nurse assistant has an average salary of $36,382, which is higher than the $34,892 average annual salary of a health care assistant.
The top three skills for a certified medical assistant/certified nurse assistant include patients, vital signs and CPR. The most important skills for a health care assistant are patients, customer service, and healthcare.
| Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | Health Care Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $36,382 | $34,892 |
| Hourly rate | $17.49 | $16.77 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 36% |
| Number of jobs | 350,499 | 242,669 |
| Job satisfaction | 3.5 | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 26% | Bachelor's Degree, 37% |
| Average age | 42 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 3 | - |
A certified medical assistant (CMA) or certified nurse assistant (CNA) is a healthcare professional who performs clinical and administrative duties in clinics or medical facilities. Certified medical assistants provide excellent customer service to patients arriving and departing from the medical facility and administer injections or medications to their patients. In administrative duties, certified medical assistants are tasked to help clients submit insurance claims and encode medical records to the computer system. They also can work with specialized physicians such as ophthalmologists and podiatrists.
A health care assistant primarily performs support tasks to help nurses in providing care and assistance to patients. Their duties usually include assisting patients with their daily hygienic tasks such as bathing, going to the toilet, dressing, and brushing their teeth. They may also prepare meals according to protocols and guidelines, feed patients, assist them when walking, and run other errands as necessary. Most importantly, a health care assistant monitors the patients' condition and their treatment progress, coordinating with the nurses and physicians regularly.
Certified medical assistants/certified nurse assistants and health care assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | Health Care Assistant | |
| Average salary | $36,382 | $34,892 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $47,000 | Between $25,000 And $47,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | Antioch, CA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Aya Healthcare | Medical University of South Carolina |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Education |
There are a few differences between a certified medical assistant/certified nurse assistant and a health care assistant in terms of educational background:
| Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | Health Care Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 26% | Bachelor's Degree, 37% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between certified medical assistants/certified nurse assistants' and health care assistants' demographics:
| Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | Health Care Assistant | |
| Average age | 42 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 10.5% Female, 89.5% | Male, 18.8% Female, 81.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 6.8% White, 64.2% 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% |