Patient care assistant vs patient sitter

The differences between patient care assistants and patient sitters 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 patient sitter. Additionally, a patient care assistant has an average salary of $32,799, which is higher than the $29,649 average annual salary of a patient sitter.

The top three skills for a patient care assistant include patients, vital signs and PCA. The most important skills for a patient sitter are patients, BLS, and CPR.

Patient care assistant vs patient sitter overview

	Patient Care Assistant	Patient Sitter
Yearly salary	$32,799	$29,649
Hourly rate	$15.77	$14.25
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	261,345	188,756
Job satisfaction	5	5
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 26%	Bachelor's Degree, 30%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	3	3

What does a patient care assistant do?

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.

What does a patient sitter do?

The primary job of a patient sitter is to provide patients with care and companionship. You will be responsible for a few duties that always include supervising patients, assisting them with basic personal hygiene and care, and monitoring their vital signs. As a patient sitter, you are expected to refrain from doing unauthorized or additional functions, identifying changes in patient's conditions, and maintaining patient information confidentiality. You are also expected to comply with relevant standards, procedures, and policies.

Patient care assistant vs patient sitter salary

Patient care assistants and patient sitters have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Patient Care Assistant	Patient Sitter
Average salary	$32,799	$29,649
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $45,000	Between $21,000 And $40,000
Highest paying City	San Diego, CA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Washington
Best paying company	Microsoft	Carondelet High School
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between patient care assistant and patient sitter education

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

	Patient Care Assistant	Patient Sitter
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 26%	Bachelor's Degree, 30%
Most common major	Nursing	Nursing
Most common college	-	-

Patient care assistant vs patient sitter demographics

Here are the differences between patient care assistants' and patient sitters' demographics:

	Patient Care Assistant	Patient Sitter
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 14.4% Female, 85.6%	Male, 21.5% Female, 78.5%
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, 10.6% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 7.5% White, 61.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between patient care assistant and patient sitter duties and responsibilities

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.

Patient sitter example responsibilities.

Conduct and facilitate PCA lead group activities as scheduled
Apply restraints to violent and combative patients.
Maintain OSHA and HIPAA compliance with regulatory standards.
Train in techniques for physical restraints (CPI).
Provide therapeutic companionship and close observation of patients in a safe and clean environment
Transport patient to MRI department.

Patient care assistant vs patient sitter skills

Common patient care assistant skills

Patients, 23%
Vital Signs, 9%
PCA, 8%
CPR, 7%
Home Health, 6%
Customer Service, 5%

Common patient sitter skills

Patients, 41%
BLS, 12%
CPR, 7%
Customer Service, 6%
Patient Observation, 5%
Continuous Observation, 4%

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Healthcare Support Industry
Patient Care Assistant
Patient Care Assistant vs Patient Sitter

Updated January 8, 2025

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