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The differences between child life specialists and intake specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a child life specialist and an intake specialist. Additionally, a child life specialist has an average salary of $55,201, which is higher than the $36,805 average annual salary of an intake specialist.
The top three skills for a child life specialist include patients, child development and patient care. The most important skills for an intake specialist are patients, customer service, and social work.
| Child Life Specialist | Intake Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $55,201 | $36,805 |
| Hourly rate | $26.54 | $17.69 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 12% |
| Number of jobs | 90,517 | 40,663 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
The job of a child life specialist is to help children and their families navigate the process of injury, illness, trauma, hospitalization, and disability. These health care professionals perform varied duties that include helping children and their families better understand the procedure and process of their medical experience. They also work on developing strategies to lessen the trauma and improve their understanding of a diagnosis by providing support, guidance, and information to family members. They are also expected to work closely with other members of the health care team in coordinating and managing care.
Intake coordinators manage the registration of clients or patients for medical services in a health care facility. They talk to patients and their families, determine their needs, and ask for patients' medical history and their mental and physical state. It is part of their job to obtain the insurance information of the patients. The necessary skills to become an intake coordinator include good writing and reading skills, good communication, and attention to detail.
Child life specialists and intake specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Child Life Specialist | Intake Specialist | |
| Average salary | $55,201 | $36,805 |
| Salary range | Between $31,000 And $96,000 | Between $26,000 And $51,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | L.E.K. Consulting | Citi |
| Best paying industry | - | Government |
There are a few differences between a child life specialist and an intake specialist in terms of educational background:
| Child Life Specialist | Intake Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | SUNY at Binghamton |
Here are the differences between child life specialists' and intake specialists' demographics:
| Child Life Specialist | Intake Specialist | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 24.9% Female, 75.1% | Male, 20.7% Female, 79.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 15.6% Asian, 7.0% White, 60.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.8% | Black or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 21.4% Asian, 6.3% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |