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The differences between patient care assistants and home health assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a patient care assistant has an average salary of $32,799, which is higher than the $31,161 average annual salary of a home health assistant.
The top three skills for a patient care assistant include patients, vital signs and PCA. The most important skills for a home health assistant are home health, patients, and rehabilitation.
| Patient Care Assistant | Home Health Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $32,799 | $31,161 |
| Hourly rate | $15.77 | $14.98 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 36% |
| Number of jobs | 261,345 | 213,220 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 26% | Bachelor's Degree, 29% |
| Average age | 42 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 3 | - |
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.
People with disabilities, severe illnesses, cognitive diseases, or age-related issues regularly need medical healthcare, and if they prefer to receive care in their own home, a home health assistant is their caregiver. Home health assistants provide basic services such as checking vital organs, blood pressure, and temperature. They also administer medications, and in cases of injuries, tend wounds and change bandages. They are generally supervised by a medical professional, to whom they give reports.
Patient care assistants and home health assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Patient Care Assistant | Home Health Assistant | |
| Average salary | $32,799 | $31,161 |
| Salary range | Between $23,000 And $45,000 | Between $20,000 And $46,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Diego, CA | West Springfield Town, MA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | JPMorgan Chase & Co. |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a patient care assistant and a home health assistant in terms of educational background:
| Patient Care Assistant | Home Health Assistant | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 26% | Bachelor's Degree, 29% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between patient care assistants' and home health assistants' demographics:
| Patient Care Assistant | Home Health Assistant | |
| Average age | 42 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 14.4% Female, 85.6% | Male, 22.9% Female, 77.1% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 5% |