For Medical Residency
Advanced Medical Assisting – Medical Residency Track
46 Units (1248 hours)
Average completion time: 10 months
Ideal Candidate:
International Medical Graduates (IMG) or U.S. Medical Graduates (USMG) who want to establish their U.S. medical identity, and to significantly improve their chances of securing U.S. medical residency interviews confidently, and to ultimately practice medicine in the United States.
Program Summary:
ACA is the only college in the State of California with a BPPE approved medical residency track focused Advanced Medical Assisting program. According to the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), assimilation and acculturation have been named as the most challenging barriers to the practice of medicine by international medical graduates (and arguably returning USMG) in the United States. Utilizing Advanced Medical Assisting as its base, ACA’s AMA – MRT is designed to provide pre-residency candidates with extensive didactics, acculturation and multidisciplinary U.S. hands-on practical clinical experience that is highly prized by U.S. medical residency admission committee members. Graduates of AMA – MRT will be able to dully work as Certified Medical Assistants (upon passing of the NCCT exam) in order to retain their patient care exposure, and significantly increase their chances of securing medical residency interviews due to a complete medical residency application reorganization.
Clinical Externships:
The Program Advisory Board of ACA believes that AMA-MRT graduates will be trained to be able to exhibit satisfactory performance in various U.S. clinical settings in preparation for applying to U.S. medical residency. ACA’s externships are based on Advanced Medical Assisting with an emphasis on Medical Residency relevant clinical experiences and as such, ACA designed its externships to give a condensed, yet broad scope of experience to students in clinical sites that are physician supervised and residency relevant (such as rotating with Residency Program Faculty, or Teaching Hospital Guarantees), yet filled with community service and exposure to research. AMA–MRT students must successfully complete the required cores (4-week clinical blocks) by choosing any two specialties of Family Medicine and/or Internal Medicine and/or Pediatrics + one additional 4-week clinical block in primary care + 2 electives (in two 4-week increments or one 8-week) + 0.5 required unit of Medical Administrative Core in billing and coding. Not only will AMA–MRT enable its graduates to gain up to 5X the clinical exposure than a typical International Medical Graduate or returning USMG when applying to residency (21 weeks), our 2009 survey indicates that they may be able to secure a higher number of interviews and provide better care to patients during internship. ACA’s clinical externships are physician supervised, which ensures that a Medical Doctor is the sole supervisor of ACA Clinical Externs while in externships. The special schedule for this program allows the medical graduates to begin clinical training at the same time they are taking their online classes, starting from term 1. Upon approval from the Dean of the College or the Program Supervisor, students may complete their externship clinical blocks at an ACGME accredited medical residency program, an AOA accredited medical residency program, or an ACA affiliated clinical site. In order to receive credit, approval must be received prior to the start of the externship.
Program Structure:
1. 21 Weeks of On-ground Hands-on Clinical Externships: 744 clinical hours or 15.5 clinical units, simultaneously completed with
2. 50 Weeks or Ten 5-Week Terms of Online Didactic: 504 classroom hours or 30.5 didactic units
Online Courses:
> AMA 111 – Introduction to Medical Assisting, Medical Laws & Ethics – 3 units
> AMA 121 – Medical Terminology, Anatomy and Physiology*
> AMA 122 & 122L – Clinical Medical Assisting + Lab – 3 units
> AMA 131 – Professional Externship and Career Development – 3 units
> AMA 132 – Psychology of Human Relations*
> AMA 141 – Pharmacology and Office Emergencies*
> AMA 142 – Medical Office Business Procedures and Management – 3 units
> AMA 151 – Computer Software Applications and Electronic Records in Healthcare – 3 units
> AMA 152 – 21ST Century Primary Care Medicine and Disaster Preparation – 3 units
> NEW FOR 2012: Addition of AMA 133 – CODiE award-winning Research Methods – 3 units: a complete interactive online course that offers students a step-by-step, systematic approach to conducting research. Emphasis is placed on using critical thinking, efficient research techniques, and the Internet to produce an in-depth white paper.
* May be eligible to receive 9.5 units of credit with possession of a valid Medical Doctorate degree.
** AMA-MRT must not be used in order to obtain a PTAL (California Letter) clinical requirements, as we can not guarantee such outcome.
Career Placement:
Although currently residency candidates who are both international medical graduates and returning U.S. medical graduates can apply to U.S. medical residency programs with slight to no U.S. clinical experience, in reality only those with extensive documented U.S. clinical experience are seriously considered for U.S. residency. With the help of seasoned Enrollment Specialists, AMA–MRT students complete 21 weeks of U.S. externships supervised by U.S. licensed physicians, side by side with other 3rd and 4th year medical students. Ultimately, graduates of this program will find themselves strategically placed in a competitive position when applying to U.S. primary care medical residency programs, mainly due to their advanced level of training and clinical skill sets compared to thousands of other residency applicants who do not have the advantage of notable pre-residency preparatory U.S. clinical training and acculturation.
Next:
Follow these 8 simple steps to enrollment, and see if you qualify for this program.
