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The differences between medical assistant externships and medical scribes can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a medical assistant externship and a medical scribe. Additionally, a medical assistant externship has an average salary of $35,460, which is higher than the $30,045 average annual salary of a medical scribe.
The top three skills for a medical assistant externship include patients, vital signs and EKG. The most important skills for a medical scribe are patients, medical terminology, and excellent organizational.
| Medical Assistant Externship | Medical Scribe | |
| Yearly salary | $35,460 | $30,045 |
| Hourly rate | $17.05 | $14.44 |
| Growth rate | 16% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 172,671 | 80,035 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Diploma, 31% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Average age | 37 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
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.
As a medical scribe, their main responsibility is to follow a physician's daily work and do charting of patient encounters in real-time by accessing their medical electronic health record (EHR). It is their duty to make sure the patient schedules are followed, generate referral letters for physicians and manage and sort medical documents within the EHR. Medical scribes can be held as data custodians, medical assistants, and nurses to focus on patient in-take and care throughout clinic hours. In addition, they manage patient flow through the clinic and increase productivity to cater to more patients.
Medical assistant externships and medical scribes have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Assistant Externship | Medical Scribe | |
| Average salary | $35,460 | $30,045 |
| Salary range | Between $23,000 And $54,000 | Between $23,000 And $38,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | - | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | - | Boston Medical Center |
| Best paying industry | - | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a medical assistant externship and a medical scribe in terms of educational background:
| Medical Assistant Externship | Medical Scribe | |
| Most common degree | Diploma, 31% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Most common major | Medical Assisting Services | Biology |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between medical assistant externships' and medical scribes' demographics:
| Medical Assistant Externship | Medical Scribe | |
| Average age | 37 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7% | Male, 28.4% Female, 71.6% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 24.3% Asian, 9.7% White, 50.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |