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The differences between nurse technicians and medical assistant externships can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-3 months to become a nurse technician, becoming a medical assistant externship takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a medical assistant externship has an average salary of $35,460, which is higher than the $33,005 average annual salary of a nurse technician.
The top three skills for a nurse technician include patients, CPR and vital signs. The most important skills for a medical assistant externship are patients, vital signs, and EKG.
| Nurse Technician | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Yearly salary | $33,005 | $35,460 |
| Hourly rate | $15.87 | $17.05 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 195,553 | 172,671 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Diploma, 31% |
| Average age | 42 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 3 | 12 |
Nurse technicians, also known as nursing aides, assistants, or attendants, usually work in clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes. Primarily, they help a registered nurse by providing essential mobility, care, and support to patients. Everyday routine duties include maintaining patients' hygiene and moving them using wheelchairs or stretchers around the facility for their meals, treatment, events, and other activities. They do tasks that help improve a patient's comfort level and become their caregivers in the long run. This job requires a high school diploma along with the completed certified nursing assistant (CNA) program.
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.
Nurse technicians and medical assistant externships have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Nurse Technician | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Average salary | $33,005 | $35,460 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $40,000 | Between $23,000 And $54,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | - |
| Highest paying state | Oregon | - |
| Best paying company | Carondelet High School | - |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | - |
There are a few differences between a nurse technician and a medical assistant externship in terms of educational background:
| Nurse Technician | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Diploma, 31% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Medical Assisting Services |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between nurse technicians' and medical assistant externships' demographics:
| Nurse Technician | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Average age | 42 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 16.9% Female, 83.1% | Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 13.6% Asian, 8.0% White, 60.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% | 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 | 7% | 6% |