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The differences between room clerks and operating room assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a room clerk, becoming an operating room assistant takes usually requires 1-3 months. Additionally, an operating room assistant has an average salary of $34,177, which is higher than the $30,787 average annual salary of a room clerk.
The top three skills for a room clerk include customer service, data entry and stock room. The most important skills for an operating room assistant are patients, surgery, and anesthesia.
| Room Clerk | Operating Room Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $30,787 | $34,177 |
| Hourly rate | $14.80 | $16.43 |
| Growth rate | -5% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 91,018 | 218,839 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 36% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 47 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 3 |
A room clerk is responsible for receiving guests and assigning them to their respective rooms, typically in a hotel setting. Room clerks manage guests' reservations, explain the policies of the premises, and process their payments for staying at the hotel. They also ensure the rooms' cleanliness, reaching out to the maintenance for any repairs and requests for additional room items. A room clerk must have excellent communication and customer service skills, respond to the customer's inquiries and concerns, and resolve service complaints immediately.
An operating room assistant works alongside the surgeons in maintaining the orderly and sterile nature of operating rooms. The assistant ensures that all surgical equipment is clean and hygienic, all monitoring equipment is functional, and everything needed by the doctor is present inside the operating room. The assistant position is vital during an operation. The surgeon may become too focused on the operation at hand that helpful assistants must ensure an operation's smooth flow.
Room clerks and operating room assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Room Clerk | Operating Room Assistant | |
| Average salary | $30,787 | $34,177 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $36,000 | Between $26,000 And $43,000 |
| Highest paying City | Spokane, WA | Santa Monica, CA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | L3Harris | University of California, Berkeley |
| Best paying industry | Government | - |
There are a few differences between a room clerk and an operating room assistant in terms of educational background:
| Room Clerk | Operating Room Assistant | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 36% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | - |
Here are the differences between room clerks' and operating room assistants' demographics:
| Room Clerk | Operating Room Assistant | |
| Average age | 47 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 47.0% Female, 53.0% | Male, 46.8% Female, 53.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.8% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 20.7% Asian, 7.2% White, 55.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% | Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 7.1% White, 61.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 7% |