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The differences between certified medical assistants/certified nurse assistants and patient care assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-3 months to become both a certified medical assistant/certified nurse assistant and a patient care assistant. Additionally, a certified medical assistant/certified nurse assistant has an average salary of $36,382, which is higher than the $32,799 average annual salary of a patient 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 patient care assistant are patients, vital signs, and PCA.
| Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $36,382 | $32,799 |
| Hourly rate | $17.49 | $15.77 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 350,499 | 261,345 |
| Job satisfaction | 3.5 | 5 |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 26% | High School Diploma, 26% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 3 | 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 patient care assistant is responsible for attending patients' needs with the supervision of a health care professional. Duties of a patient care assistant also include performing basic medical tasks such as taking patients' temperature, monitoring food intake, preparing medicines, recording health conditions, assisting on lab tests and other medical procedures, and providing information and important updates to the patient's family. A patient care assistant must have excellent time-management and multi-tasking skills to perform duties efficiently and accurately.
Certified medical assistants/certified nurse assistants and patient care assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Average salary | $36,382 | $32,799 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $47,000 | Between $23,000 And $45,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | San Diego, CA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Aya Healthcare | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a certified medical assistant/certified nurse assistant and a patient care assistant in terms of educational background:
| Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 26% | High School Diploma, 26% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between certified medical assistants/certified nurse assistants' and patient care assistants' demographics:
| Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 10.5% Female, 89.5% | Male, 14.4% Female, 85.6% |
| 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, 10.4% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% Asian, 7.3% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |