Step Up and Speak Up!

You must be willing to help with the smaller duties, like pulling and filing patient's charts and sometimes answer the phones, as well as the more critical ones, like assisting with patient intake and doing basic clinical procedures. 

Ask Questions!

Questions about your training are best directed to your instructors, but any questions regarding your work schedule, attire, and work hours and performance can be discussed with the medical office manager or supervisor at the externship site.

Be Open Minded:
Make it your goal to remain open-minded throughout your entire stay. Nothing works better and leaves a better impression than a person's willingness to observe and learn new and unfamiliar procedures. Ultimately, you will prove that you are able to recognize certain tasks that need to be done and do them as you were shown.

Know Office Policies:
It is recommended that you read the office policy handbook during the first few days and note any memos on the bulletin boards. Also, make sure you know how to locate emergency equipment, emergency exits, fire extinguishers and emergency telephone numbers.

Dress Professionally:
Always remember that while performing at the externship site you are a guest of the facility and will be expected to follow the same office policies that the employees do. You must wear appropriate work attire, such as a uniform that identifies you as a student, or wearing an identification badge. Be neat, clean and professional in appearance.

Adhere to Confidentiality Rules:
Also remember that confidentiality guidelines apply to the externship student on an externship, as well as the hired staff. No information regarding a patient should be discussed outside the office for any reason, including with the faculty supervisors, without express consent of the client and the externship site's office supervisor.

Steer Clear from Gossip:
Do not gossip, complain, interrupt, or insist that the office is performing a skill differently than you learned in school. You should not have excessive personal phone calls on the site. If there are problems on the externship, you should first speak to the site supervisor and if no resolution is obtained, the school supervisor get involved.

Be a Good Communicator:
You must learn to communicate with supervisors and not allow problems to go unresolved. You should not ask or expect the physician to treat you, or your family members, if an illness should occur during the externship period. Do not expect, or ask the physician to dispense any medications from the office.

Take It Serious:
The professional externship extends the medical assistant's education to an actual work site and is an important part of the vocational training.

Russ B tells us in our Medical Assistant Forum Re: Jobs from your externship: "... Just keep in mind as you do your externship, its the longest job interview you will ever go through. I kept that in mind and two weeks after I finished my externship they hired me on fulltime but on a temp basis. To this day, I'm still working there. Just keep yourself busy at all times when the workload is slow. Things that I did during slow periods was help with boxing up old charts, sterilizing surgical instruments, learning front office skills, which has paid off for me. Show them that you are a team player and that their team cannot operate without you." (end quote)