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The differences between certified nurses' aides and medical assistant externships can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-3 months to become a certified nurses' aide, becoming a medical assistant externship takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a medical assistant externship has an average salary of $35,460, which is higher than the $32,566 average annual salary of a certified nurses' aide.
The top three skills for a certified nurses' aide include patients, vital signs and care plan. The most important skills for a medical assistant externship are patients, vital signs, and EKG.
| Certified Nurses' Aide | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Yearly salary | $32,566 | $35,460 |
| Hourly rate | $15.66 | $17.05 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 171,087 | 172,671 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 26% | Diploma, 31% |
| Average age | 42 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 3 | 12 |
A certified nurses' aide specializes in providing health care and welfare support to patients in nursing homes, hospitals, hospice, or any facilities that offer long-term care. A nurses' aide is responsible for assisting patients in bathing and dressing, toilet and catheter use, essential daily exercise and walks, and preparing and feeding meals. Furthermore, a nurses' aide must monitor a patient's vital signs and overall condition. It is also essential to coordinate with nurses and other health care workers by reporting changes or improvements.
Medical assistant externs are medical school students who took the opportunity to get on-the-job training at a medical facility, usually a hospital. They spend a set amount of time in the facility. Medical assistant externs do job shadowing. They join their mentors, who are usually doctors or other health professionals, in their daily activities. Unlike usual on-the-job trainees, medical assistant externs do not really work on administrative activities. Instead, they are given the opportunity to truly be exposed to the actual work in a medical facility. They experience talking to patients and their families, performing basic medical tasks under the supervision of a doctor, and interpreting laboratory results with their mentors.
Certified nurses' aides and medical assistant externships have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Certified Nurses' Aide | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Average salary | $32,566 | $35,460 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $42,000 | Between $23,000 And $54,000 |
| Highest paying City | Guilderland, NY | - |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | - |
| Best paying company | Careerstaff Unlimited - A Genesis Healthcare Company | - |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | - |
There are a few differences between a certified nurses' aide and a medical assistant externship in terms of educational background:
| Certified Nurses' Aide | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 26% | Diploma, 31% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Medical Assisting Services |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between certified nurses' aides' and medical assistant externships' demographics:
| Certified Nurses' Aide | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Average age | 42 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 13.6% Female, 86.4% | Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.7% Asian, 6.8% White, 63.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | Black or African American, 9.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 24.9% Asian, 9.3% White, 50.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 6% |