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The differences between direct support professionals and patient care assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a patient care assistant has an average salary of $32,799, which is higher than the $32,077 average annual salary of a direct support professional.
The top three skills for a direct support professional include direct support, developmental disabilities and autism. The most important skills for a patient care assistant are patients, vital signs, and PCA.
| Direct Support Professional | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $32,077 | $32,799 |
| Hourly rate | $15.42 | $15.77 |
| Growth rate | 36% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 142,034 | 261,345 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | 5 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 30% | High School Diploma, 26% |
| Average age | 48 | 42 |
| Years of experience | - | 3 |
Direct support professionals are responsible for taking care of patients with physical or mental limitations. They do a variety of tasks for their patients, such as doing household chores, running errands for them, cooking for them, feeding them, bathing and dressing them, and helping them with their medication, among others. They also provide their patients with companionship, accompanying their patients to appointments, providing emotional support, and being with their patients for the most part of the day. They should be familiar with their patients' prescribed medicines, meal plans, therapy schedules, and other items related to the betterment of the patients' condition. Direct support professionals help the patients overcome their challenges and assist them in acclimating themselves with their current environment.
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.
Direct support professionals and patient care assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Direct Support Professional | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Average salary | $32,077 | $32,799 |
| Salary range | Between $18,000 And $54,000 | Between $23,000 And $45,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Clara, CA | San Diego, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Meta | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | Government | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a direct support professional and a patient care assistant in terms of educational background:
| Direct Support Professional | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 30% | High School Diploma, 26% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between direct support professionals' and patient care assistants' demographics:
| Direct Support Professional | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Average age | 48 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6% | Male, 14.4% Female, 85.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 8.3% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | 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% |