Beginning the Externship

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	Beginning the Externship

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Externship = Educational Experience

Medical assistant school graduates need skills and knowledge that prepare them to function in a real workplace with real people! Therefore, most medical assisting training programs provides their MA students with an externship experience of at least 160 hours. Externships provide unique learning opportunities, similar to internships to provide short practical experiences in the field. The MA student works a regular schedule without pay. It is temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training.

The Purpose:

The ability to perform is important! The medical assistant extern gets a chance to apply and solidify the skills previously discussed and practiced in class. Performance and attendance are carefully tracked and reported back to the medical assistant student's school. Attendance and punctuality are indicators of reliability and professionalism.

Although most MA students have some apprehension about their externship, once they are there, they usually find it to be a very rewarding and invaluable experience.

Anxiety is a basic human emotion consisting of fear and uncertainty that typically appears when an individual perceives an event as being a threat to the ego or self-esteem (Sarason, 1988). It creates the feelings of fear, apprehension, or worry. However, anxiety is normal: It is a common emotion medical assistant students share and has nothing to do with how they will perform at their externship site. Read: Externship has to do with Y-O-U!

Setting Up the Externship Site:

A good school usually has already established a contact list of possible externship sites within the community and the teaching staff makes the necessary arrangements to set them up. Their goal is to carefully match medical assistants students with a suitable externship site. Shortly before the externship the medical assistant student may be asked to interview with the physician or office manager at the suggested facility. The student is expected to treat this interview exactly as if it was an actual job interview. Again, this may cause bit of anxiety but it is an important step in preparation for the highly competitive job market of the "real world".

Student's Wish List

Sometimes medical assisting students get to submit a wish list to their instructor...

Students can name a few medical offices or specialties that they would really love to work in. There always are certain medical centers and medical offices in the community that are desired areas, for example the ER is always high on the list. Understandably, not everybody gets to go where they hope to go—it is up to the instructors to find a good match. It also depends on externship site availability.

The Day of Your Interview:

Dress appropriately and professionally and always take a resume, even if the school has forwarded one to the clinic. Compile a list of all the addresses, telephone numbers and names of the supervisors and businesses you have previously worked for and also be prepared to mention volunteer experiences and hobbies that will show that you are dependable and interested in learning new skills and taking on new challenges.

Externship Site Responsibilities:

Externs should not be regarded as paid employees that are sent to the externship site to be available for any mundane task. Neither should the medical assistant on externship stand around and do nothing. Rather, the externs should be asked to do tasks that are carefully defined and appropriate to their abilities; they should also receive feedback about their performance.

Proper Evaluation Methods:

At the middle and end of each term, the school will ask the externship site's supervisor for a written evaluation of the extern's work. Once externs have completed their assignments, feedback on both reliability and task performance is an essential component of the clinical educational experience.

Beginning the Externship:

The medical assistant externship works similarly to an internship, but is much shorter in duration. The externship is the final step of the training right before graduation from the program.

Completing the Externship:

First off, remember that the Externship has to do with YOU! The externship is a very important part of the transition from being a student to becoming a qualified medical assistant. It is the point where expectations and responsibilities shift over from the instructor to the student. It is the student's chance to put everything that was taught in the classroom to practical use in a real medical office environment. What a chance to show some muscle and step up to the task!!!

Upon completion of the externship experience, be sure to leave some copies of your resume with the office manager, so that if any job opportunities arise at that place they will be able to reach you. You should also mention that you'd appreciate it if they were to pass your resume along should they know of a position at another office. If you left a good impression they will be more than happy to do this for you.