Resident care associate vs health care assistant

The differences between resident care associates and health care assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a health care assistant has an average salary of $34,892, which is higher than the $30,497 average annual salary of a resident care associate.

The top three skills for a resident care associate include resident care, administer medications and RCA. The most important skills for a health care assistant are patients, customer service, and healthcare.

Resident care associate vs health care assistant overview

	Resident Care Associate	Health Care Assistant
Yearly salary	$30,497	$34,892
Hourly rate	$14.66	$16.77
Growth rate	36%	36%
Number of jobs	130,625	242,669
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 26%	Bachelor's Degree, 37%
Average age	48	50
Years of experience	-	-

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.

What does a health care assistant do?

A health care assistant primarily performs support tasks to help nurses in providing care and assistance to patients. Their duties usually include assisting patients with their daily hygienic tasks such as bathing, going to the toilet, dressing, and brushing their teeth. They may also prepare meals according to protocols and guidelines, feed patients, assist them when walking, and run other errands as necessary. Most importantly, a health care assistant monitors the patients' condition and their treatment progress, coordinating with the nurses and physicians regularly.

Resident care associate vs health care assistant salary

Resident care associates and health care assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Resident Care Associate	Health Care Assistant
Average salary	$30,497	$34,892
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $38,000	Between $25,000 And $47,000
Highest paying City	Salem, OR	Antioch, CA
Highest paying state	Oregon	Alaska
Best paying company	The Philadelphia Coalition	Medical University of South Carolina
Best paying industry	Media	Education

Differences between resident care associate and health care assistant education

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

	Resident Care Associate	Health Care Assistant
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 26%	Bachelor's Degree, 37%
Most common major	Nursing	Nursing
Most common college	-	-

Resident care associate vs health care assistant demographics

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

	Resident Care Associate	Health Care Assistant
Average age	48	50
Gender ratio	Male, 14.6% Female, 85.4%	Male, 18.8% Female, 81.2%
Race ratio	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%	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%

Differences between resident care associate and health care assistant duties and responsibilities

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.

Health care assistant example responsibilities.

Monitor / enforce OSHA standards and coordinate / lead daily, weekly, and monthly safety meetings to educate staff.
Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
Facilitate physical therapy exercises, positional rotation, monitor medication compliance and effects, provide companionship, carry out ADL's.
care professional, extremely competent, providing guidance and counseling for rehabilitation of mentally disturb patients.
Process consults requests for electrophysiology, EKG and other services.
Assist train staff in the event of cardiac arrest and actively participate in CPR.

Resident care associate vs health care assistant skills

Common resident care associate skills

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

Common health care assistant skills

Patients, 20%
Customer Service, 11%
Healthcare, 10%
Patient Appointments, 8%
Direct Patient Care, 8%
Medical Equipment, 7%

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Resident Care Associate
Resident Care Associate vs Health Care Assistant

Updated January 8, 2025

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