A medical assistant is someone with little medical training (but very valuable if you have a good one). He/she puts the patient in the room, checks vital signs, checks the med list (most of which I do myself anyway), and finds out what the chief complaint of the day is. She also does BP checks, EKGs, and gets the patient set up with whatever labs have been ordered and follow up appointments. She also assists with any tests/procedures that are done in office such as pap smears, joint injections, etc. This position usually requires a few weeks to a few months of training ( a lot is on the job) and pays around 10$ an hour.
On the other hand, a physician assistant requires a formal degree and a number of clinical rotations similar to those done by medical students. The job duties of physician assistants are varied. Some work in primary care offices and have their own patient load. Many work in emergency rooms or urgent care centers. Others work with surgeons and see patients in the office and assist with surgery. They have some degree of autonomy, but by law are supposed to be supervised by and MD/DO. Their salaries (to my uneducated guess) probably run 60-80K.
I know this is very basic information, but I hope it helps.
Take care.
