The most anticipated time of the year has arrived for our dental and medical assisting students. After several months in the classroom and in the lab, they’ll be putting their skills to work in the “real world.” While at the externship facility, the students are exposed to the various phases of the office, including both clinical and administrative, and will be afforded hands-on training and supervision in many skills and tasks. Based on job openings at their clinical site, students may be offered full-time employment upon graduation.
Medical Assisting externships at STI are 10 weeks, approximately 240 hours. The experience provides students the opportunity to work directly with patients, doctors and other health care providers. A few of our partner sites include Brigham & Women’s, Atrius, & Compass Medical. Unique to this year’s program, the externships are split into 2 rotations: 5 weeks in general medicine, such as primary care, and 5 weeks at a specialty office such as obstetrics & gynecology, asthma & allergy, or pediatrics.
Dental Assisting students began their clinical externship experience on March 16th. They will be completing a minimum of 300 hours in a dental practice where they will gain invaluable hands-on, real-world work experience. The students will each rotate through three different dental practices, including 100 hours in general dentistry, 100 hours in pediatric dentistry, and 100 hours in a specialty office of their choosing (oral surgery, orthodontics, endodontics, and periodontics). Some of our area practices that you may find our students in are Veale-Veale in Easton, Advanced Root Canal Specialists in Taunton, Dental Associates of Walpole and Fisher Family Dentistry in Bridgewater.
Ms. Becker teaches career readiness to all of the dental and medical assisting students. Career preparation is extremely important as it helps students to develop and expand their employability skills in addition to their clinical skills. Students are led through all stages of their career development process – they learn how to write cover letters, thank you letters, resumes, and develop interview skills. Each student creates a professional portfolio to bring on their job interviews. The portfolios highlight their credentials, skills, and certifications that they have obtained throughout the year. The goal is to help our students prepare for their new careers while they are still in school so that upon graduation, they are ready to transfer those skills and thrive!
Click here to learn more about our Dental Assisting Program and click here to learn more about Medical Assisting.
Priority deadline for the September day programs is May 15th. Avoid the waitlist and apply now!
