Journals
These journals reflect my weekly experiences as an athletic training student. Each journal reflects either an actual patient contact experience, or something I am working on in my athletic training courses.
At this moment, my plans after graduation are to attend graduate school. I really want to go to PA school at Emory & Henry School of Health Sciences in Marion. However, I will submit more applications to other graduate schools. I am currently on the track to having all my prerequisites for graduate school completed and will have all of my clinical hours for the requirements. I feel like I am set with all my requirements for this to happen. Its exciting that I took the path of an athletic training student because I will be able to graduate with over 900 clinical hours. This will also give me a step ahead of others because they will have to shadow while I got experience. I have two things left I need to complete: my GRE and my graduate applications. I am currently studying every Sunday for my GRE. I have actually been studying a lot more this semester than I plan for myself every week. I do not have as many hard classes this semester (which are usually always AT classes), so I am able to use that time to be able to start preparing for my GRE. I know there is going to be a huge transition between undergraduate and graduate school. I am trying to make sure I have my grades keep up, and I am spending my time making sure all my assignments have been turned in or getting them done early. I think the biggest to key to wanting to become a physician’s assistant was when I tore my ACL. My PA did everything for me. Of course during surgery, I was not awake, and I know my surgeon did most of the repair. However, to my eyes, my PA did everything for me. It was so awesome to me to see how much of a role he has played for me. I have always wanted to be able to help people. I love injuries (which probably isn’t ok), but I really want to be in surgery. The day Dr. Handy came to the School of Health Sciences and showed how to suture was probably one of my favorite days. I had a blast. I knew I wanted to work in hospital, and I wanted to be able to help people. I think this position is best for me because I always look to someone for reassurance even when I know I am doing things right. This allows me to continue this awful habit by having a physician watching over me.
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One goal I picked this semester was to perform an actual or scenario evaluation once a week. I picked this because the more evaluations I perform the better I will be at them (practice makes perfect). I did not get much experience last year performing evaluation because the fall semester I spent a lot of time in the clinic in the mornings. During the spring semester I did not preform an evaluation when I was with Bre. However, I did see an elbow dislocation so that was definitely worth it. Bre did quiz Colin and I randomly on evaluation scenarios making sure we were prepared for anything to happen at any high school event. I also picked this because I lack confidence in myself, and the more evaluations I perform and get correct the more my confidence will go up. I wanted to make confidence be one goal by its self because I think this is my biggest weakness I lack in myself, however, I think combining this with evaluations will really enhance my skills. Last week I was faced with a tricky evaluation. Melissa told me I was going to do an evaluation on an ankle. I was pretty excited because ankles are probably the easiest evaluation I have performed before. However, this evaluation was not easy at all. I went through my evaluation and kind of got to a point where I didn’t know what else I needed to do, so then I reached out to Melissa for help. She guided me along to perform some manual muscle testing to rule out some type of injury to the muscle. She would suggest a muscle or muscle group and I would perform the MMT. I got nervous at first because I couldn’t remember all the muscles in the foot, but once Melissa would mention the name I knew exactly how to MMT that muscle or muscle group. After doing multiple tests, we were able to pin point where the exact pain was on her ankle. Once she came into the clinic at the very beginning and I performed the evaluation her pain was along the lateral aspect around her lateral malleolus. However, throughout the middle of the evaluation her most tender spot was on the fifth metatarsal. At this point we checked to rule out a fracture, and all three tests of tuning fork, ultrasound, and compression were positive. I believe this goal is going to help me improve my confidence and skills because I will be performing them weekly. This also keeps me on my toes making sure I am prepared for whatever type of scenario or injury that can occur each week.
I believe I have more strengths than I do weakness, so I am going to start with my weaknesses. For my personally I think my biggest weakness is the lack of confidence I have in myself. I don’t know why I struggle to just go with my gut, but I second guess myself all the time. I am also afraid to answer things because I don’t want to be wrong. I don’t know why I am afraid to be wrong, but I just can not get over it. I have actually been working a lot towards this by just saying what comes to my brain no matter the outcome. I think for me personally; I don’t want to be wrong with what I am doing because it frustrates me. Of course, I am just a student, but I have been doing this for three years and I should be getting better every time. I think I overthink the situation and just get a little stressed out. I think I could improve my weaknesses by performing more evaluations. The more experience the the better I will be. I have actually been working towards this because it is one of my goals for this semester. My preceptor is going to challenge me once a week with either a real evaluation or a scenario. I also think I can increase my weaknesses by answering more questions in class or during clinic hours to prove to myself I am capable of knowing the correct answer. For my strengths, I believe I am very determined to get anything I am challenged with completed. Whether this be with an evaluation, directing rehab exercises, or performing any type of treatment. I am very hardworking at getting any task completed. I am also very good with communication to others. This can be when someone is hurt or when I am introduced to a new team. Communication is key, and this allows the athlete to build trust with me and not be afraid to let me do their treatments or rehabs. I try to talk to every athlete I come in contact with to build a relationship with them. I want them to be able to come to me for any questions, or help they need while I am with them during practice, treatment, or games. By being with one team for a whole semester is really helpful with this because I am able to follow them throughout their many practices and games. This allows them to get to know me, and they can get used to me as a student. I will enhance my strengths by continuing to reach out to all athletes, and I will continue to work hard throughout any challenges I come into contact with.
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Reflective JournalsThese journal entries express my experience as an athletic training student Archives
April 2019
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