Nurse's Assistant vs. Nurse Technician

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Aug 10, 2004

I saw this and was kind of confused. I realize that you're concerned about NYC but Nurse Tech down here in Florida is a position created solely for nursing students in an RN program. There is no course you can take for it. Some hospitals offer the position to nursing students in lieu of a patient care tech or nursing assistant position.

What I noticed from friends of mine in that position is that the pay scale is a bit higher for nurse techs but the scope of practice is essentially the same as patient care tech, a kind of nursing assistant position.

najahlei · Aug 11, 2004

I saw this and was kind of confused. I realize that you're concerned about NYC but Nurse Tech down here in Florida is a position created solely for nursing students in an RN program. There is no course you can take for it. Some hospitals offer the position to nursing students in lieu of a patient care tech or nursing assistant position.
What I noticed from friends of mine in that position is that the pay scale is a bit higher for nurse techs but the scope of practice is essentially the same as patient care tech, a kind of nursing assistant position.

I was confused as well when I saw it while doing some research online, but I saw that a school in manhattan was indeed offering it as a course by itself...I was told it was the same as a patient care tech. so Now my next question would be...What's a patient care tech? :uhoh3: Is it just the same as a CNA but allowed to do more?

allmynez · Dec 2, 2004

Which is a better course to start out with in NYC? WHat are the differences in job duties, pay, etc?

Honestly to tell u the truth if your looking for a quick fix. Neither is really better they are basically the same except the nurse tech can do ekgs, pheblotomy, etc as well as adl's. Nurse's aide basically just assist with adl's. Depending on what part of new york u live in most likely u well get a job as a nurses aide faster because there is more demand for them as apposed to the nurse tech because the nurse tech is taking on extra tasks so there is less of a work load for the nurses.Some hospitals even train nursing aides to be nurse techs. I can only speak from my experience. I have worked both in hospital and LTC in the city and long island. And been on plenty of job interviews. My consensus is that typically to me facilities on the island pay more than the city. The average pay for na was 14-18/ hr depending on facility that also depends on evening and night differential. The other thing I might like to add is if u would be interested in taking the lpn program. Most people who start of as aides continue the ed. to rn. some lpn but if u don't want to spend a lot of time in school u can get take ur lpn and be done in 11 months ft, and the starting salary is anywhere between 20-25/hr agency can be a lit bit more. I am 22 years old my first job out of nursing school made 21.25 hr to start back in 2002. I then started school nursing for a little while and going back to ltc where I make 25/hr per dfiem 28/hr. Trust as an aide they don't pay that money for nothing you have to work and can be alot on the body and sometimes you are not treated the nicest but it is not a bad living considering some people go to schoool for years and don't make that money. Some facilities even give free cna classes so I would check into that to.

smc5127, BSN, CNA, RN · Dec 8, 2009

In nyc you can take regular CNA courses. But the programs here have it so that you have to become a CNA first then take the EKG and phlebotomy courses second. There's no way your going to have time to do both at the same time, unless you aren't working. To do that you would be taking teh CNA course in the morning and the EKG an Phl course at night (both are 2 days a week). I would suggest take the CNA and CPR courses now and the other 2 when you get your CNA certificate. Both are only 1 month anyway.I will also say that I'm in college to be an RN at the same time, so this def works better for me.