Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between surgical assistants and surgical nurses can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a surgical nurse has an average salary of $64,025, which is higher than the $52,170 average annual salary of a surgical assistant.
The top three skills for a surgical assistant include patients, surgical procedures and patient care. The most important skills for a surgical nurse are patients, BLS, and acute care.
| Surgical Assistant | Surgical Nurse | |
| Yearly salary | $52,170 | $64,025 |
| Hourly rate | $25.08 | $30.78 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 28,138 | 638,444 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 30% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 43 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | 2 |
A Surgical Assistant provides assistance during an operation by performing a wide range of crucial tasks. They cover patients with surgical drapes to create and maintain a sterile operative field and adjust and maintain operating room parameters according to the surgeon's specifications.
Generally, a surgical nurse provides patient care before, during, and after surgery. Surgical nurses assist the surgeons and anesthetists whenever necessary. They prepare patients for their surgery and serve the actual procedure. It is part of their job to mark incision sites and sterilize them. They give preoperative instructions, prepare the operating room, and administer medication. The roles they play include being circulating and scrub nurses. Also, they intervene whenever complications occur.
Surgical assistants and surgical nurses have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Surgical Assistant | Surgical Nurse | |
| Average salary | $52,170 | $64,025 |
| Salary range | Between $35,000 And $76,000 | Between $39,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Thousand Oaks, CA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Baptist Health Care | University of California, Berkeley |
| Best paying industry | Utilities | Professional |
There are a few differences between a surgical assistant and a surgical nurse in terms of educational background:
| Surgical Assistant | Surgical Nurse | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 30% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | Duke University |
Here are the differences between surgical assistants' and surgical nurses' demographics:
| Surgical Assistant | Surgical Nurse | |
| Average age | 43 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 20.7% Female, 79.3% | Male, 11.2% Female, 88.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 18.0% Asian, 9.1% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 12.0% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 8.9% White, 65.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 9% |