Prepring for the Medical Assistant Externship

The Externship 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 provide their MA students with an externship experience of at least 160 hours.

The Purpose of Your Externship

The ability to perform is important! 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.

Medical Assisting Externship Usually Consists of...
(a) A minimum of 160 contact hours
(b) Placement in an ambulatory healthcare setting

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.

Externship Anxiety

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.

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. Not only that, your externship actually IS experience. So, when asked during your job interview whether you have any on-the-job experience... you can say yes, I do.

  The Purpose of the Externship

  The Externship Site

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