Patient care assistant vs resident care associate

The differences between patient care assistants and resident care associates 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 $30,497 average annual salary of a resident care associate.

The top three skills for a patient care assistant include patients, vital signs and PCA. The most important skills for a resident care associate are resident care, administer medications, and RCA.

Patient care assistant vs resident care associate overview

	Patient Care Assistant	Resident Care Associate
Yearly salary	$32,799	$30,497
Hourly rate	$15.77	$14.66
Growth rate	9%	36%
Number of jobs	261,345	130,625
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 26%	High School Diploma, 26%
Average age	42	48
Years of experience	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 resident care associate do?

Resident Care Associates are responsible for providing support and care to individuals living in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. Their duties include assisting residents with daily tasks such as eating, bathing, and dressing, audit care records, as well as making sure patients take their prescribed medications. They implement daily group activities, attend to medical or safety issues, and communicates any concerns to a resident's family members as required.

Patient care assistant vs resident care associate salary

Patient care assistants and resident care associates have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Patient Care Assistant	Resident Care Associate
Average salary	$32,799	$30,497
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $45,000	Between $24,000 And $38,000
Highest paying City	San Diego, CA	Salem, OR
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Oregon
Best paying company	Microsoft	The Philadelphia Coalition
Best paying industry	Health Care	Media

Differences between patient care assistant and resident care associate education

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

	Patient Care Assistant	Resident Care Associate
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 26%	High School Diploma, 26%
Most common major	Nursing	Nursing
Most common college	-	-

Patient care assistant vs resident care associate demographics

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

	Patient Care Assistant	Resident Care Associate
Average age	42	48
Gender ratio	Male, 14.4% Female, 85.6%	Male, 14.6% Female, 85.4%
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, 9.9% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.2% Asian, 8.7% White, 58.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between patient care assistant and resident care associate 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.

Resident care associate example responsibilities.

Assist Alzheimer patients with daily activities including personal care, administering medications and communicating with their families.
Assist in rehabilitation to transfer home.
Have been train to administer medication, CPR train, and mechanical lift train.
Maintain cleanliness throughout med pass, and practice aseptic technique when pouring and assisting with medication.
Assist with ADL's, medication assistance, dinning room service, answering the telephones and front desk monitoring.
Care for residents with diagnosis such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and arthritis.

Patient care assistant vs resident care associate skills

Common patient care assistant skills

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

Common resident care associate skills

Resident Care, 24%
Administer Medications, 13%
RCA, 12%
Assist Residents, 7%
Emergency Situations, 6%
Pathogens, 5%

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Zippia Careers
Healthcare Support Industry
Patient Care Assistant
Patient Care Assistant vs Resident Care Associate

Updated January 8, 2025

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