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The differences between hospital medical 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 hospital medical assistant and a medical assistant externship. Additionally, a hospital medical assistant has an average salary of $35,545, which is higher than the $35,460 average annual salary of a medical assistant externship.
The top three skills for a hospital medical assistant include patients, vital signs and customer service. The most important skills for a medical assistant externship are patients, vital signs, and EKG.
| Hospital Medical Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Yearly salary | $35,545 | $35,460 |
| Hourly rate | $17.09 | $17.05 |
| Growth rate | 16% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 164,640 | 172,671 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Diploma, 31% |
| Average age | 37 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Hospital Medical Assistants offer a variety of services like clerical, technical, and patient care as long as they work under nurses or medical practitioners' supervision. While their specific tasks vary depending on the hospital, practice, or medical facility, they generally support medical practitioners and members of the health care team by recording vital patient information and occasionally assisting with minor, office-based procedures. Working as a hospital medical assistant requires skills like organizational skills, professionalism, confidentiality, and people skills to reach top performance levels for the role.
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.
Hospital medical assistants and medical assistant externships have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Hospital Medical Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Average salary | $35,545 | $35,460 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $45,000 | Between $23,000 And $54,000 |
| Highest paying City | Woburn, MA | - |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | - |
| Best paying company | Student Conservation Association | - |
| Best paying industry | Education | - |
There are a few differences between a hospital medical assistant and a medical assistant externship in terms of educational background:
| Hospital Medical 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 hospital medical assistants' and medical assistant externships' demographics:
| Hospital Medical Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Average age | 37 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 31.9% Female, 68.1% | Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 22.7% Asian, 9.5% White, 51.2% 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% |