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The differences between health assistants and medical assistant externships can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a health assistant and a medical assistant externship. Additionally, a medical assistant externship has an average salary of $35,460, which is higher than the $31,960 average annual salary of a health assistant.
The top three skills for a health assistant include patients, CPR and customer service. The most important skills for a medical assistant externship are patients, vital signs, and EKG.
| Health Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Yearly salary | $31,960 | $35,460 |
| Hourly rate | $15.37 | $17.05 |
| Growth rate | 16% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 100,084 | 172,671 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Diploma, 31% |
| Average age | 37 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A health assistant is responsible for providing quality care for the patients under the supervision of registered nurses and attending physicians. Health assistants perform basic medical procedures, such as collecting specimens for examinations, checking the patients' conditions, and administering required medications. They also assist health care professionals in conducting complex medical processes by preparing the equipment and ensuring the cleanliness of the operating room. A health assistant keeps an organized record of medical charts for the doctor's reference and may also coordinate with the patient's family for medical updates.
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.
Health assistants and medical assistant externships have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Health Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Average salary | $31,960 | $35,460 |
| Salary range | Between $23,000 And $43,000 | Between $23,000 And $54,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cambridge, MA | - |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | - |
| Best paying company | Boston Public Schools | - |
| Best paying industry | Government | - |
There are a few differences between a health assistant and a medical assistant externship in terms of educational background:
| Health Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Diploma, 31% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Medical Assisting Services |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between health assistants' and medical assistant externships' demographics:
| Health Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Average age | 37 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 17.9% Female, 82.1% | Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 22.4% Asian, 9.5% White, 52.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | 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 | 6% | 6% |