Your extern experience
How to make it meaningful |
Does your school provide the opportunity to work for a
doctor during your last term before graduation? If so, grab
the chance! But be aware that all extern experiences
are not created equal.
One doctor might be very open to giving you a lot of
hands-on training and to spending time teaching, while
another will put you at the front desk for hours on end or
have you spend all your time taking blood pressures and
doing physical exams.
 Why are we telling you this now, when you have a
long time before you will be selecting an extern
experience? Three reasons:
1. Start to look sooner than later. Begin
talking with doctors so you can find a doctor
with whom you are compatible; if you wait
until just before your externship starts, you may
not be able to find a good doctor.
2. Work on meeting your clinic
requirements now. Work toward a goal of
having your clinic requirements out of the
way before you can qualify for that externship
experience. This means getting patients, learning
various techniques, and preparing a plan to get
through clinic in a timely manner.
3. Find a position you can extend. Finally, you may want to
look for an extern position that you can continue to work in as
an associate. In this case, you’ll need to focus on a specific city
and state. Again, the sooner you begin your search, the better
your chances of finding the right opportunity.
One former extern advises: “Make sure they are willing to help
you grow and not just looking for someone to make coffee and
answer phones.
Talk to other students and find out what they say about the
office. I found my externship a great way to help me figure out
what I didn’t want in a practice!”
In order to make your externship truly meaningful, here are
some factors you should consider:
• Prior experience. Has this doctor had externs before? If so,
what do they say about the experience?
• Compatibility of technique. If you really want to get the most out of your externship, you’ll need to find a doctor who
practices the way you want to. If you want to see a high-volume
practice in action, this is a great time to do it, but if that’s not
the way you really want to practice, will this be the best
experience?
• Scope of experience. Will the state allow you to adjust
(some will, some won’t)? Can you do an externship abroad, if
that is what interests you?
• Daily activities. What types of work will the doctor allow
you to do? You should be experiencing every aspect of the
practice during this time, from billing and physical exams to
seeing new patients to marketing. Don’t be afraid to ask the
specific question: “Will you let me do as much as I can handle?”
• Schedule. Is there a schedule set out for your time as an
extern, so you know what to expect each week? Will the doctor
be there all the time (and not taking vacation for several weeks)?
• Staff. What will your relationships be with the staff? Will
they be supportive? Even though your work with the doctor
might be fulfilling, if you and the staff don’t get along, your
weeks as an extern may be long and painful.
In short, interview the doctor and the staff. Gather all the
information you can about the doctor’s expectations of you.
Don’t be afraid to state your own expectations clearly and to ask
for what you want. The best externship experiences are those in
which both the doctor and the extern feel they gained.
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