So you have decided to become a medical assistant? Congratulations! Becoming a medical assistant could be your opportunity to play an important role in the healthcare field. Medical assistants work hand in hand with other medical staff to perform essential tasks that help patients in need. These medical assistant tasks could include measuring patient vital signs, scheduling patient appointments, and administering injections1. These are tasks that you could learn in medical assistant externships!
Becoming a medical assistant could be a wise career choice. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of medical assistants is projected to grow 23% from 2018 to 20282. While planning out your medical assistant career goals and objectives, it would be smart to consider programs that offer medical assistant externships. An externship could give you hands-on experience needed for a smooth transition from student to a healthcare professional. Continue reading to see why an externship in a medical assistant program is the real-world training you need to consider to potentially pursue your dream career as a medical assistant in Michigan!
Learn how you could grow your skillset in medical assistant externships!
Why Medical Assistant Externships are Important
Medical assistant externships are a great place to take some of what you learned in the classroom and practice it in a clinical setting. This experience is not only essential but effective. A good externship could allow you to perform skills such as an EKG, Venipuncture, or even maybe help determine diagnosis and procedure codes. The goal of medical assistant externships is to allow you to expand your skillset and learn tasks that cannot be taught in a classroom, such as patient interaction or office experience.
These externships connect you with other healthcare professionals who you could network with and learn from. Think of your externship as a 6-week job interview of sorts where potential employers get to see your skills shine in a real clinic or medical office. Where your externship takes place could be a key to unlocking the career and your dreams!
Where You Could be Placed During Your Medical Assistant Externship
Physician’s offices and Urgent Care facilities are the typical places that students in Medical Assistant Externships spend their training. These medical facilities could give the student a safe place to go from novice to skilled healthcare professional as they practice their clinical skills. Externships are usually six weeks long but may vary depending on the school. Each externship is unique, allowing students to practice skills specific to a certain type of practice. Despite where the student is placed in an externship they still get the opportunity to practice critical thinking skills and prepare for real-world situations that could arise on the job.
Become Proficient in Medical Assistant Tasks
If you want to be one of the best in your field, your medical assistant career goals and objectives should also include gaining hands-on experience with performing medical assistant tasks. The different tasks you could learn as a student depends on where the externship takes place. Some skills that students may typically perform include, but are not limited to:
- EKG
- Venipuncture
- Preparing patients for examination
- Taking and recording vital signs
Hands-on training could give you the opportunity to turn knowledge into muscle memory and that is why it is the best type of learning. They allow students to practice technical skills as well as soft skills such as empathizing, providing comfort, and communicating well with people in pain. Those who complete an externship could not only be better prepared for their career, but ready to handle the various medical assistant tasks that could be thrown at them.
Medical Assistant training at Dorsey Schools
If you are searching for an excellent Medical Assistant program in Michigan with an externship component, consider Dorsey Schools! We offer medical assistant classes in Michigan that are designed to help you train for a new career in the medical field. At Dorsey Schools, we provide instruction in both administrative and clinical responsibilities that could help you excel on the medical assisting career path.
Gain Real-World Training through Medical Assistant Externship at Dorsey Schools
Here, at Dorsey Schools, we know how valuable your externship experience could be. Each student’s experience of the medical assistant externship offered at Dorsey Schools will vary. How much you could learn during an externship depends on you but our externship is geared with you in mind. We aim to help you gain the hands-on experience you may need, along with a degree of professionalism that cannot be obtained from the classroom. Our externship is made to be completed within 6 weeks along with the completion of 180 hours of clinical experience.
We allow our students to choose a preference of where their medical assistant externships will take place and do our best to make that possible (but specific assignments are never guaranteed). This experience could be your first networking opportunity within the industry and a chance to get a letter of recommendation from an office manager or physician to accelerate your career. Are you ready to take the next steps towards your new career as a medical assistant? Contact Dorsey Schools today to begin the adventure of a lifetime!
Have the opportunity to pursue your passion in the healthcare field with Dorsey Schools!
Please note, due to the current healthcare climate, Dorsey Schools’ medical assistant externships are currently being offered in a virtual environment. The safety and health of our students is our first concern, but Dorsey Schools is continuing to help students train for their new careers.
Additional Information
- “Medical Assistants: Occupational Outlook Handbook.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10 Apr. 2020, www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-assistants.htm#tab-2.
- “Medical Assistants: Occupational Outlook Handbook.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10 Apr. 2020, www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-assistants.htm#tab-6.
