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The differences between patient care assistants and nurse technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-3 months to become both a patient care assistant and a nurse technician. Additionally, a nurse technician has an average salary of $33,005, which is higher than the $32,799 average annual salary of a patient care assistant.
The top three skills for a patient care assistant include patients, vital signs and PCA. The most important skills for a nurse technician are patients, CPR, and vital signs.
| Patient Care Assistant | Nurse Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $32,799 | $33,005 |
| Hourly rate | $15.77 | $15.87 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 261,345 | 195,553 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 26% | Bachelor's Degree, 39% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 3 | 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.
Nurse technicians, also known as nursing aides, assistants, or attendants, usually work in clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes. Primarily, they help a registered nurse by providing essential mobility, care, and support to patients. Everyday routine duties include maintaining patients' hygiene and moving them using wheelchairs or stretchers around the facility for their meals, treatment, events, and other activities. They do tasks that help improve a patient's comfort level and become their caregivers in the long run. This job requires a high school diploma along with the completed certified nursing assistant (CNA) program.
Patient care assistants and nurse technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Patient Care Assistant | Nurse Technician | |
| Average salary | $32,799 | $33,005 |
| Salary range | Between $23,000 And $45,000 | Between $26,000 And $40,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Diego, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Oregon |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Carondelet High School |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a patient care assistant and a nurse technician in terms of educational background:
| Patient Care Assistant | Nurse Technician | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 26% | Bachelor's Degree, 39% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between patient care assistants' and nurse technicians' demographics:
| Patient Care Assistant | Nurse Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 14.4% Female, 85.6% | Male, 16.9% Female, 83.1% |
| 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, 11.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 13.6% Asian, 8.0% White, 60.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |