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The differences between unit assistants and medical assistant externships can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a unit assistant and a medical assistant externship. Additionally, a medical assistant externship has an average salary of $35,460, which is higher than the $33,802 average annual salary of a unit assistant.
The top three skills for a unit assistant include patients, customer service and HIPAA. The most important skills for a medical assistant externship are patients, vital signs, and EKG.
| Unit Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Yearly salary | $33,802 | $35,460 |
| Hourly rate | $16.25 | $17.05 |
| Growth rate | 16% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 174,425 | 172,671 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Diploma, 31% |
| Average age | 37 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A unit assistant is responsible for performing administrative duties within a department of a health care institution, ensuring that the patients receive the highest quality care services for their concerns and needs. Unit assistants assist the patients and the visitors, confirm their appointments, and direct them to the correct personnel or medical department. They also manage the adequacy of medical supplies and report defective equipment and machine to the maintenance for immediate repairs or replacements. A unit assistant must be highly organizational, especially on storing medical records and updating patients' information on the database.
Medical assistant externs are medical school students who took the opportunity to get on-the-job training at a medical facility, usually a hospital. They spend a set amount of time in the facility. Medical assistant externs do job shadowing. They join their mentors, who are usually doctors or other health professionals, in their daily activities. Unlike usual on-the-job trainees, medical assistant externs do not really work on administrative activities. Instead, they are given the opportunity to truly be exposed to the actual work in a medical facility. They experience talking to patients and their families, performing basic medical tasks under the supervision of a doctor, and interpreting laboratory results with their mentors.
Unit assistants and medical assistant externships have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Unit Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Average salary | $33,802 | $35,460 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $44,000 | Between $23,000 And $54,000 |
| Highest paying City | Westfield, MA | - |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | - |
| Best paying company | UC Santa Barbara | - |
| Best paying industry | Non Profits | - |
There are a few differences between a unit assistant and a medical assistant externship in terms of educational background:
| Unit Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Diploma, 31% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Medical Assisting Services |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between unit assistants' and medical assistant externships' demographics:
| Unit Assistant | Medical Assistant Externship | |
| Average age | 37 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 30.0% Female, 70.0% | Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 19.1% Asian, 9.5% White, 55.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 9.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 24.9% Asian, 9.3% White, 50.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |