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.

Get this FREE Career Information Kit As you already know, working medical assistants, as well as recent graduates from vocational training programs should seek certification as soon as possible to succeed!

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, it 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
  
  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...
• 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...