Externship Placement Services

What they are and how they can help your career

Being career-ready is important for reaching success in any career, and that’s why the Houston Institute of Global Health requires students to complete an externship at the end of their educational training. Externships and clinicals within your healthcare program provide hands-on experience in a real-world setting and can be beneficial to gaining important insights into a new career field. Programs such as Medical Assistant, Medical Administration: Billing and Coding, and Phlebotomy Technician include externships/clinicals as a part of the curriculum.

What is an externship/clinical?

Externships and clinicals provide the opportunity to shadow a qualified professional, allowing you to experience that field firsthand. Externships and clinicals allow you to understand the full extent of the career you are pursing and many of the details of daily work that can only be learned in the field.

Real-world work experience

The Houston Institute of Global Health offer students hands-on experience as part of their training programs. Your educational training combined with the knowledge gained through an externship or clinical can provide exposure to working with teams, the rigors of professional expectations and the realities of working with the details of the job. You may also interact with patients in a real clinical setting. During this time, you will learn how to apply your academic studies to professional decisions you may make during your daily routine in your new career.

Externships and clinicals offer you the opportunity to prepare and learn what protocols you need to follow, what job skills you should improve on, how to interact successfully with patients and how to communicate effectively with your co-workers and supervisors.

What is the environment like?

Do you know what type of environment you would like to work in? In the healthcare profession you may work in a variety of different environments from a small physician’s office to a specialty doctor or a busy large hospital. Externships and clinicals may expose you to these types of work settings, giving you the chance to determine if you fit best in a large hospital setting or in a smaller office team.

Performance Evaluation

Your performance during your practicum will be evaluated based on criteria established by your educational program. You will likely receive a grade based on your attendance, attitude, appearance, and overall performance, so it’s important to do your best. The employees who work at the site know that you are a student. They expect you to be a little bit nervous at first and won’t hold you accountable for knowing everything when you start. However, if it’s clear that you haven’t been well trained before starting your practicum, your deficiencies will become apparent pretty quickly. Feel free to ask questions and show an interest in what goes on at the site, but don’t ask the same question repeatedly. Remember the answer and jot it down on a small pocket notepad.

Professional Networking

Professional networking is an important aspect of any career, and being able to network well provides an opportunity for continued success in the field. Through our externship, students will be able to gain knowledge and experience on how to professionally network within their industry. Professional networking can not only help students in their current industry but can also provide opportunities in the future.

Skill Development

Being able to put learned skills to use during an externship is a great way to continue to develop them and learn how they operate outside the classroom. Soft skills, such as teamwork skills, time management, and communication skills, are examples of things that are further developed with use in a real-life situation such as an externship. These skills are also highly transferable from job to job and are crucial for an individual’s overall career.

Externship Opportunities After Educational Training

Externship opportunities at the Houston Institute of Global Health are available during the final term of the healthcare programs after all the required coursework has been completed.

You should complete classes for externships at a rate of 40 hours per week. Students gain between 2–5.5 credits per externship, depending on the program.

These are the total hours necessary for each of our externships:

MAT 295 Medical Assistant– 180 hours
HIT 292 Medical Billing and Coding–135 hours
Phlebotomy Technician– 20 hours

Externship sites expect you to complete hours during the day. However, these hours do not have to be during regular business hours. They may require distance travel, various shifts, or weekend work.

Are you ready to benefit from all that the Houston Institute of Global Health has to offer? Get started today; contact our Student Services team by calling (713) 505-1660 or ExternshipServices@hightexas.org

Externship Placement Services

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