Externship As Part of Your Training
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.

We Want you to be Successful on Your Medical
Assistant Career Path...
The more you know about the medical assistant career, the better you are prepared to establish real world goals and
become the successful person you aim to be.

The Purpose of the Externship
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 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.
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 Externship Site
Learn why it is important for shools to carefully match medical assistants students with a suitable externship site. Sometimes their instructors will...
- The Purpose of the Externship
Learn why the externship is a very important part of the transition from being a student to becoming a qualified medical assistant. One of the reasons is...
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