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The differences between operating room assistants and certified medical assistants/certified nurse assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-3 months to become both an operating room assistant and a certified medical assistant/certified nurse assistant. Additionally, a certified medical assistant/certified nurse assistant has an average salary of $36,382, 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 a certified medical assistant/certified nurse assistant are patients, vital signs, and CPR.
| Operating Room Assistant | Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $34,177 | $36,382 |
| Hourly rate | $16.43 | $17.49 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 218,839 | 350,499 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | 3.5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Associate Degree, 26% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 3 | 3 |
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.
A certified medical assistant (CMA) or certified nurse assistant (CNA) is a healthcare professional who performs clinical and administrative duties in clinics or medical facilities. Certified medical assistants provide excellent customer service to patients arriving and departing from the medical facility and administer injections or medications to their patients. In administrative duties, certified medical assistants are tasked to help clients submit insurance claims and encode medical records to the computer system. They also can work with specialized physicians such as ophthalmologists and podiatrists.
Operating room assistants and certified medical assistants/certified nurse assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Operating Room Assistant | Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | |
| Average salary | $34,177 | $36,382 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $43,000 | Between $27,000 And $47,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Monica, CA | Los Angeles, CA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | University of California, Berkeley | Aya Healthcare |
| Best paying industry | - | Health Care |
There are a few differences between an operating room assistant and a certified medical assistant/certified nurse assistant in terms of educational background:
| Operating Room Assistant | Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Associate Degree, 26% |
| Most common major | Business | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between operating room assistants' and certified medical assistants/certified nurse assistants' demographics:
| Operating Room Assistant | Certified Medical Assistant/Certified Nurse Assistant | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 46.8% Female, 53.2% | Male, 10.5% Female, 89.5% |
| 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, 8.6% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 6.8% White, 64.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |