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The differences between operating room assistants and assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-3 months to become an operating room assistant, becoming an assistant takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, an assistant has an average salary of $37,363, which is higher than the $34,177 average annual salary of an operating room assistant.
The top three skills for an operating room assistant include patients, surgery and anesthesia. The most important skills for an assistant are patients, customer service, and patient care.
| Operating Room Assistant | Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $34,177 | $37,363 |
| Hourly rate | $16.43 | $17.96 |
| Growth rate | 9% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 218,839 | 557,900 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 42 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 3 | 2 |
An operating room assistant works alongside the surgeons in maintaining the orderly and sterile nature of operating rooms. The assistant ensures that all surgical equipment is clean and hygienic, all monitoring equipment is functional, and everything needed by the doctor is present inside the operating room. The assistant position is vital during an operation. The surgeon may become too focused on the operation at hand that helpful assistants must ensure an operation's smooth flow.
An assistant intern is responsible for facilitating administrative and clerical tasks as assigned by the management. Assistant interns' duties include keeping records of meetings, receiving calls and handling customer inquiries, assisting on writing reports and data entry processing, cooperating and providing support for business events, and adhering to company policies and regulatory procedures. Successful assistant interns must have excellent time-management, multi-tasking, and communication skills. They must be a team player and fast-learner to handle various tasks in the corporate industry.
Operating room assistants and assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Operating Room Assistant | Assistant | |
| Average salary | $34,177 | $37,363 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $43,000 | Between $16,000 And $82,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Monica, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | University of California, Berkeley | Latham & Watkins |
| Best paying industry | - | Education |
There are a few differences between an operating room assistant and an assistant in terms of educational background:
| Operating Room Assistant | Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between operating room assistants' and assistants' demographics:
| Operating Room Assistant | Assistant | |
| Average age | 42 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 46.8% Female, 53.2% | Male, 40.7% Female, 59.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 7.1% White, 61.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 6% |