Trained and credentialed to pass scheduled medications in addition to providing personal care — that's the Certified Medical Aide role. In long-term care and assisted living, you handle the routine med pass under nurse delegation, freeing licensed staff for higher-acuity work.
Certified Medical Aide (CMA) pay typically runs $30K–$38K at this level.
A typical shift in long-term care often follows the med-pass schedule — morning meds, mid-day, dinner, and bedtime — woven through personal care for the same residents you know well. Volume can be heavy: a single med pass on a 30-resident hall can take well over an hour with documentation. Personal care, transfers, and incidental needs continue between rounds.
Coordination is constant with charge nurses, other CMAs and CNAs, residents, and visiting families. The dual role of medication and intimate personal care builds an unusual kind of relationship — you're the one residents see most, often the first to flag a behavioral change, refusal, or new symptom. Your med-pass observations matter clinically.
People who tend to thrive here are detail-oriented around medications, physically resilient, and warm with elderly residents who have come to depend on familiar faces. Pay is modest and the work is demanding. If you find meaning in knowing your residents by name, history, and quirks while also catching the small things nurses need to know, the role can be both grounding and clinically engaging.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Healthcare roles →Trained and credentialed to pass scheduled medications in addition to providing personal care — that's the Certified Medical Aide role. In long-term care and assisted living, you handle the routine med pass under nurse delegation, freeing licensed staff for higher-acuity work.
Median pay for a Certified Medical Aide (CMA) is about $35K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $26K to $44K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Active Listening, Service Orientation, Social Perceptiveness, Critical Thinking, and Monitoring.
Most people in this role hold a high school diploma.
Closely related roles include Medical Director, Senior Nurse'S Companion, and Direct Support Professional (DSP).
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