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Nursing home aide vs patient care assistant

The differences between nursing home aides and patient care assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a nursing home aide has an average salary of $49,268, which is higher than the $32,799 average annual salary of a patient care assistant.

The top three skills for a nursing home aide include patients, home health and vital signs. The most important skills for a patient care assistant are patients, vital signs, and PCA.

Nursing home aide vs patient care assistant overview

Nursing Home AidePatient Care Assistant
Yearly salary$49,268$32,799
Hourly rate$23.69$15.77
Growth rate36%9%
Number of jobs129,931261,345
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeHigh School Diploma, 27%High School Diploma, 26%
Average age5042
Years of experience-3

Nursing home aide vs patient care assistant salary

Nursing home aides and patient care assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

Nursing Home AidePatient Care Assistant
Average salary$49,268$32,799
Salary rangeBetween $23,000 And $104,000Between $23,000 And $45,000
Highest paying City-San Diego, CA
Highest paying state-Hawaii
Best paying company-Microsoft
Best paying industry-Health Care

Differences between nursing home aide and patient care assistant education

There are a few differences between a nursing home aide and a patient care assistant in terms of educational background:

Nursing Home AidePatient Care Assistant
Most common degreeHigh School Diploma, 27%High School Diploma, 26%
Most common majorNursingNursing
Most common college--

Nursing home aide vs patient care assistant demographics

Here are the differences between nursing home aides' and patient care assistants' demographics:

Nursing Home AidePatient Care Assistant
Average age5042
Gender ratioMale, 13.2% Female, 86.8%Male, 14.4% Female, 85.6%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 24.0% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 23.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 35.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%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 Percentage5%7%

Differences between nursing home aide and patient care assistant duties and responsibilities

Nursing home aide example responsibilities.

  • Perform Adl's medication administration.
  • Assist nurse with the residents with their ADL.
  • Treat each patient with genuine, compassion, kindness and respect.
  • Assist with colostomy and catheter care under the supervision of the RN.
  • Complete proper state training including blood borne pathogens, CPR training and others.
  • Promote continuity of care by accurately and completely communicating to other caregivers the status of patients for which care is provided.
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Patient care assistant example responsibilities.

  • Conduct and facilitate PCA lead group activities as scheduled
  • Assist patients in achieving independence and increase functional ability.
  • Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
  • Answer call lights, vital signs, EKG'S, transporting patients to other areas, keep rooms clean and orderly.
  • Provide high quality patient care as an in-demand per-diem RCA within, home-healthcare, nursing home settings and memory support care.
  • Work extensively with Alzheimer and dementia patients.
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Nursing home aide vs patient care assistant skills

Common nursing home aide skills
  • Patients, 27%
  • Home Health, 21%
  • Vital Signs, 9%
  • Physical Therapy, 9%
  • Nursing Home, 8%
  • Compassion, 6%
Common patient care assistant skills
  • Patients, 23%
  • Vital Signs, 9%
  • PCA, 8%
  • CPR, 7%
  • Home Health, 6%
  • Customer Service, 5%

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