Medical Assistant vs Nursing Assistant – What’s the Differences

If you’re considering a career in the medical field, you may have come across two excellent options such as medical assistant and nursing assistant. While they’re both medical professions, medical assistants and nursing assistant have distinct responsibilities and career paths.

And for anyone interested in working in health care, both the medical assistant and nursing assistant profession is a fast and easy way to break into the field. In this article, we will be looking at the differences between medical assistants and nursing assistants.

What Is a Medical Assistant?

Medical assistants are responsible for performing both administrative and clinical tasks for physicians and their teams. When assisting with clinical tasks, they guide patients to treatment rooms and discuss and record patients’ medical histories and personal details.

Medical assistants also take patients’ vital signs, including height, weight, temperature, pulse and blood pressure. Many medical assistants help physicians and their teams with patient examinations, including providing medications and injections. They may label, prepare and organize blood and other samples for testing, too.

What Is a Nursing Assistant?

Nursing assistant sometimes called nursing aides are health care professionals that provide basic care for patients in hospitals and in nursing facilities. Nursing assistants have a more physical job than medical assistants, often being asked to help patients with basic tasks like bathing, moving or repositioning patients and monitoring patients’ vital signs.

A nursing assistant’s daily tasks and responsibilities can vary depending on the type of care facility but generally include the following duties.

• Answer patient call signals
• Turn or reposition bedridden patients
• Help patients perform daily living activities
• Measure and record food and liquid intake
• Measure and record urinary and fecal output