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The differences between nursing attendants and patient care assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-3 months to become both a nursing attendant and a patient care assistant. Additionally, a patient care assistant has an average salary of $32,799, which is higher than the $30,630 average annual salary of a nursing attendant.
The top three skills for a nursing attendant include patients, vital signs and blood pressure. The most important skills for a patient care assistant are patients, vital signs, and PCA.
| Nursing Attendant | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $30,630 | $32,799 |
| Hourly rate | $14.73 | $15.77 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 192,622 | 261,345 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 32% | High School Diploma, 26% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 3 | 3 |
Also called a nursing aide, a nursing attendant provides fundamental patient care in residents and hospitals of long-term care facilities. Nursing attendants are supervised by registered nurses and follow physician or registered nurses' care instructions. The attendants monitor important signs and dispense medication, which depends on the experience level and the environment. They should have a good foundation of clinical knowledge and skills. Among the other skills for this job include attention to detail, good teamwork, work schedules and duties flexibility, and great verbal and written communication.
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.
Nursing attendants and patient care assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Nursing Attendant | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Average salary | $30,630 | $32,799 |
| Salary range | Between $19,000 And $47,000 | Between $23,000 And $45,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | San Diego, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | - | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | - | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a nursing attendant and a patient care assistant in terms of educational background:
| Nursing Attendant | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 32% | High School Diploma, 26% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between nursing attendants' and patient care assistants' demographics:
| Nursing Attendant | Patient Care Assistant | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 24.8% Female, 75.2% | Male, 14.4% Female, 85.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 6.9% White, 56.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | 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% |