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.
Since my freshmen year, I feel like I am a completely different person. I believe the student I am now compared to the student I was four years ago is not the same person at all. I feel like I have grown and molded to become the student I should have always been. My freshman year, I was not sure what I was about to get into. All I knew is I wanted to make friends and be a part of extracurricular activities. However, as a senior, I have a completely different perspectives by focusing my time on school work and making last minute memories with my closest friends and of course my athletic training family. I did not think I would survive through the athletic training program. Especially if I would have been the same student I was as a freshmen there would have been no way I would have made it through. Looking back now, I knew I was dedicated and could work hard throughout it, but there were a lot of times I had doubt within myself that I was smart enough to be a part of this program. I believe my junior year was the year that helped me become the student I am. I was in four very hard classes while playing sport, and I never thought I would have made it out of that semester passing. However, here I am. I have actually made it to graduation. My whole college career has been a lesson to me, and I am so thankful I have had this experience. I am very excited for my future now. I have worked really hard these past four years, and now its finally my time to put this into real world scenarios. The next steps for me is to finish my pre requisites to get into graduate school. I want to get my masters in physicians assistant and be both MPA and ATC. With this year off, I am going to be applying to graduate schools and helping out with the volleyball program at Emory & Henry. I also want to continue better my skills in athletic training. Over the summer, I hope to be able to help Mike with some tournaments and continue to be a part of different clinical experiences opportunities.
My four years at Emory & Henry College has really changed the person I was in high school. This experience is something I will never forget. I have made so many memories with both my classmates and preceptors. This was truly an honor to be a part of the athletic training program. Through all early mornings to studying in the depot until 3 am for exits, I will always be thankful for what I have learned and become throughout this journey. Thank you, Beth for allowing me this opportunity.
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Throughout my experience as an athletic training student, I have been exposed to multiple different types of healthcare providers. By being able to participate in this experience, I have learned and gained skills that I can apply now and in the future. These skills I am currently developing have shown to me that every healthcare provider is very different. When I first started in the program, I was very nervous to be in the clinic with the current athletic trainers. I was afraid to say something wrong or not know an answer. However, as a senior athletic training student, this has completely changed. They do not care if I am wrong or don’t know an answer because they want to teach me. Throughout my experience with this healthcare field I have gained a lot more confidence when speaking with them. Now I am not afraid of being wrong, but I know now I can use different types of medical terms and they will know exactly what I am saying. Another type of healthcare field that I have gained different skills from is being with Dr. Handy and Dr. Hannula. Both of these individuals have taught me a lot being in the healthcare field. They have taught and showed me how to communicate with patients and that there are some things that you don’t even need to share with the patients. However, when communicating with them, they mainly have taught me to be myself. They want me to be very interactive with them and the patients. Being able to engage in the conversation they are having and asking questions after is the best way to communicate with them. They want the students to be able to understand what they are doing and not be afraid to ask any questions. I have learned that I should not be scared to use either medical terms or even general terms when asking them questions or responding to their questions. Lastly, I have experience times where some other healthcare providers do not know what an athletic trainer is and they talk down to our profession in general. When I was observing during my clinical rotations at the emergency room, I experienced a nurse who did not know what an athletic trainers position even consisted of. I am not sure exactly what she said, but in general thought I was a “trainer.” During this situation, I didn’t want to correct them and overstep my position when I was observing so I never said anything. But I would try to ask more medical questions to allow them to see that I was informed on many injuries and how to treat them. I think the biggest key that I have learned when communicating with different healthcare providers is to never be afraid to ask a question if you are unsure of an injury, diagnosis, or what is happening in general. All healthcare providers want to teach students what they know and they are never looking down on the students for not knowing the answer.
My strengths and weakness have been fluctuating a lot since I began this program. I believe my biggest weakness is confidence in myself, which I have always struggled with. This has been one of my biggest challenges I have faced throughout being in the program. I always feel like I need another person to justify my answer. Even though I may 100% know the answer, I always feel like I need someone else to take a second look at something or to validate my answer. This has continued to be a goal for myself every semester because I want to believe in myself. I know that I am very educated on the material, and I need perform and practice more evaluations to get my confidence up. I believe this semester has been the first semester I have been able to perform an evaluation on an athlete and report back to my preceptor with my diagnosis. I am able to do everything on my own (so far) without reaching out to my preceptor when I am lost. I have been trying to prove to myself that if there may be something I am unsure of in an evaluation, but I can keep going and try different things to find what the problem contains. I believe my strengths this semester have slightly changed a little. I think my greatest strength is my problem solving skills and hard work/dedication. I really enjoy solving problems which is something that I think I am good at. I believe I can work well with others, so this makes this strength easier for me. I am able to take any type of problem and either find a solution, or show others a way a guide to the solution. I believe I am a people pleaser which helps me to use my strength of problem solving. I enjoy being faced with a challenge and finding whatever way I can to solve it. When I have encountered a challenge with something, I try really hard to complete that task. This brings in my other strength of being a hard worker. When I am faced with challenges, I work really hard to complete them. I put a lot of dedication into these tasks because I enjoy finding the results to something. I have been trying to improve my weakness by putting myself into situations where I need to only rely solely on myself. This will help me to believe in myself and also prove to me that I am capable of being confident in myself. I want others to see I am confident in myself, so they will trust me when performing an evaluation or helping them with an injury. I am also going to continue to solving problems by working hard and being dedicated to any certain situation.
Currently, I have not started a critical appraisal in ATR 462, however, we have been critically appraising articles together in class. We were asked to list a few things you would like to know more research about in class, and I picked thoracic outlet syndrome and second impact syndrome. I am not 100% sure my research articles will include this, however, this have really sparked in interest to me, and I would like to know more about the subject. My experience with this has had its ups and downs. When I was first introduced to this project I wasn’t fully aware of what all this included. There is many types of appraisals that go into project. At first, I was really confused on how this worked because I did not understand the concept of the scales because they all seemed so similar to me. After doing extra reading outside of class, I feel like I have a better understanding of what some of these scales consist of. However, I still do not feel very confident with them, but hopefully that will change after we spend more time on them! We have been focusing on the PEDRO scale in class. I feel a little bit more confident with them right now. At first, I was very hesitant with my answers on the PEDRO scale, but I think the more practice with these the more confident I will feel when critically appraising different research. I think the biggest challenge for me is being able to identify if I would consider it a yes or a no on the questions relating to the scales. I am able to find them in the text, but some of the questions began becoming challenging because I wasn’t looking for the correct answer. Brianne also explained if we are able to justify our answers then sometimes it could be a yes or a no. So at first I was a little confused, but I think I am getting a little better at justifying my answers to the questions. I am excited to begin this project because this is something I have never done before while researching. In the past, I have focused on the data of the research articles. I have never actually looked into any type of research before beyond collecting data from it. So this has been something very new to me, and I am excited to learn something new.
A difficult conversation I have had has been about a way to handle how to approach feeling less of a student athlete compared to others. At first, I was unaware of what to do, and I just kept getting tore up over something which was really effecting me. The only thing to fix this situation was to be able to talk to this person, and tell them how I was feeling because this person might not even notice this was happening. However, at the time, I wasn’t really thinking of that. I reached out to one of preceptors for help because this was effecting me mentally and physically. My preceptor helped me work through what was actually bothering me. I was able to put my thoughts together about how I wanted to approach this situation. I asked this person if I could talk to them about something that was bothering me. I knew this was going to be really hard because I do not like confrontation. I would much rather just blow it off and keep going with my day. However, this was tearing me up. So I was able to create a list of things about how I was feeling and presented them to the individual. I was very calm and respectful with how I was feeling because I just wanted things to become back to normal. Lastly, I was very understanding to the situation. When I talked with my preceptor and told them how I was feeling, I came across very strong and aggressive. I think this was really helpful to talk to my preceptor first because I was able to see how much this had affected me. This also allowed me to let my steam about the situation. I will definitely want to continue talking to someone first about something that is difficult to talk about because I was able to be more calm and understanding during the time with that individual. I also learned from that experience that everyone views things differently. Everyone is not always on the same page as you. It’s always good to talk to people how you are feeling, even if it may be difficult, because then they are able to see your side too that they might not even noticed had been going on. I will continue to talk to someone first because it allowed me to approach the situation differently by allowing myself to calm down and put my thoughts together. Lastly, it showed me that I need to be more understanding. It showed me that being open to different situations is the best way to approach something that is challenging.
Every semester, I have shaped my goals the same because I never feel like I have accomplished them. Each semester I realize that I could have done better with my goals, and I figure out different techniques that help with those goals. The more I use the same goals, the better I feel like I am accomplishing them. This semester I wanted to challenge myself because hopefully I will be certified after this semester, so I knew I needed to reach my goals this semester. My clinical goal this semester was to start becoming my own athletic trainer and to stop relying on my preceptors to guide me. I want to be able to do things on my own without any hesitation. I have been trying to perform my own treatment and rehab techniques without reaching out to my preceptor because eventually I will not have them. I have actually been doing a lot better than I thought I would. I think I was scared to be on my own, but I actually am very knowledge on all of this (shocking, right). Recently, I have been coming up with my own treatment for all of the athletes with Chaypin and confirmed them with her when I am finished. I believe I have gained a lot of confidence in myself from this, and Chaypin has believed in me a lot more. This has shown to me that I am capable of doing this on my own. I have obtained the skills and knowledge to be a great athletic trainer. This week I actually performed an evaluation on my own, performed treatment on the that athletes injury, and created a rehab for the rest of the week for them After performing my evaluation, I asked Chaypin to come over and explained to her the injury and my diagnosis, and she was able to check my work and agree with my diagnosis. I told her what type of treatment this athlete should receive and since the injury is a weakness in a muscle group that a rehab program should be written up for this athlete to perform. Chaypin let me make the treatment and rehab and was impressed with what I came up with. This was a really good feeling to be able to diagnosis the injury and create a rehab for them. I felt like I actually could take care of that athlete on my own. What a great feeling.
Each different month one type of healthcare is promoted and represented for that month. For the month of March, the healthcare that is promoted is athletic training. Athletic training is something that not many people know the exact job description that it contains which kind of makes it difficult for many to know what exactly an athletic trainer contributes to. So being able to promote this job is a great way to share with all different communities what exactly the job consists of since many have their own thoughts about what this is. This is a great way to get the word out about what the job consists of, and this is able to promote to the community the importance of athletic trainers to help influence the surrounding areas to have an athletic trainer at every high school. Since many people either hear the word “athletic” or “trainer” they assume that an athletic trainer is someone who trains athletes. This is very common to people who see us on the sidelines or who have assumed from the name. However, they are way wrong. Throughout this month, there has been many ways to share the job of being an athletic trainer as in through Facebook, Twitter, and on the internet (which is now the most common way that all people share information). The new slogan of “ATs are healthcare” also expresses that we are part of the group of health care. As mentioned above, a lot of people do not know the full job description of what an athletic trainer does because many think of us as strength coaches or water boys. Our healthcare is very different from a doctor or a nurse or an EMT because we are on the field or court during all practices and games. We stay with a specific sports team throughout their whole season. We also are with an athlete before, during, and after any injury which is completely different than any other healthcare. This slogan is important to me because it shows that we are a part of the healthcare field. We have some of the same strengths and skills as different healthcare profession that qualify us to be a part of the healthcare field. This also is important to me because a lot of other outsiders don’t see us as healthcare workers because we do not work in a hospital or clinic. We are part of a school, however athletic trainers work in a clinic too. But many people do not know that, and by having this slogan we are able to promote who we are. This is a great way to help spread the word of athletic trainers being a part of the healthcare system.
This week I attended time with doctor Hannula. I performed an evaluation on a track athlete this Monday night before Dr. Hannula arrived. Throughout the evaluation this athlete said he had been experiencing a weird lump on the back of his knees for about 8 months. He said they weren’t really painful unless he started running. However, he did not think to come into the clinic because he thought his muscles were just sore. A couple months later he realized they were starting to get bigger and becoming more painful when he was running. So, he finally came into the clinic. When I performed the evaluation, it was very interesting to see these bumps were bilateral. After listening to his history, I realized that this was not from an injury. After observing the athlete bilaterally this bumps were in the exact same spot. But this could only be seen when the athlete is flexing. I palpated the bumps and they both felt hard. He had normal ROM in knee flexion and knee extension. He also had normal functional movement. He reported that he only felt pain when he was running, however, the pain was bearable. I came to the conclusion that it was a cyst, but I was unaware of what kind. I talked with Alex about what I was thinking for the diagnosis of the injury, and he was able to confirm the same diagnosis. He talked with me about the differences between a ganglion cyst and a bakers cyst. Once Dr. Hannula evaluated the athlete, he diagnosed his with a bakers cyst. He explained that since this injury is bilateral, this would be more common than a ganglion cyst. He also explained that this injury could be from any type of swelling that has occurred. There is no medical reasoning for why someone gets a bakers cyst because it could happen from so many things. He explained to the athlete there was nothing he could really do for the injury. He said he could have the athlete come in so he could drain the cysts, but uncertain if that would help solve the problem because there is a likely hood these cysts could come back. The athlete said he would think on it because right now they aren’t bothering him tremendously. This was a very interesting injury to me because I had never seen a cyst before. It was also pretty exciting because this was a bilateral cyst which isn’t common.
This week, I was able to attend the job fair with Amanda Gardener and it was really eye opening to me. I have never really applied to many jobs in the past besides jobs that are either on campus or a part time position, so I do not have many experiences with interviews and how to apply for applications. However, for my future career job I have been really hesitant to starting looking for different opportunities for myself. I have not really been job searching as often as I should be, however, being able to attend this job fair really allowed me to see what options I should start looking for. I haven’t really been aware of different websites I could get on in order to find jobs in certain areas. So knowing which types of websites I can begin to start looking for jobs will be very helpful. During this job fair, I also refreshed my knowledge on elevators speeches. When I made my first elevator speech it was not the best. So reviewing how to prepare and what to say during my elevator speech will be helpful if I ever need to perform a real elevator speech to a future employer. I want to be able to perfect my elevator speech, so when I do have the opportunity to meet a future employer I can use those lines to tell them everything they need to know in 30 seconds. Lastly, during the job fair Amanda also talked about how to be professional when preparing for interviews. She mentioned that the interviewee should know as much background information on either that company or the school you are wanting to be apart of to be able to bring up reasons why you would like to be apart of their program. I had never really heard of knowing a lot of background information about the program or company one is interested in, but I am glad I do know now because I can use this information when applying to graduate schools to show them my interest in them. Lastly, Amanda mentioned that having a good resume is critical to have when applying for different programs. As every employee or student will be applying for the same position, having a good resume will catch the employers eyes when reading multiple resumes. Being able to put previous jobs in order for the employer to see what is the most important will help the employer see the difference you contain compared to another candidate.
Throughout this semester, I haven’t really focused enough time on my BOC preparation. The first BOC practice test I took I did not study for at all. I had recently been studying for my exit, and I was hoping that would be good enough studying for my BOC. However, it was not because I did not pass over a score of 70. So recently, I have been studying in a BOC practice book. I have read through the review sections and took the practice questions. I felt confident when reading through the BOC book because I personally felt like the questions were easier. However, after taking this last BOC, I do not feel confident. I do not feel at this moment I am prepared enough to sit for my BOC exam. But I will feel confident soon. I am going to take this whole month and begin studying differently. I am going to read the introduction book and still continue taking practice questions out of the BOC prep book. After taking my second BOC practice test, I wrote down a lot more questions that I wasn’t 100% positive on that way I can look them up and know the correct answer to them. Last BOC practice test I did not write down many questions I didn’t feel confident about because I thought there would be a review section to know the answers. So this time I wanted to make sure the questions I wasn’t for sure on that I could go back and find the correct answer. I have also realized my worst section is therapeutic interventions. I have made a goal this semester involving therapeutic intervention to help increase my knowledge by performing different therapeutic interventions in the clinic. I am also going to be reading my modalities book for 15 minutes every night just to refresh my memory from what I have learned in the past. I want to increase my score in that domain on my BOC practice test. So my goal for this month is to score at least a 65 on that section. I want to feel prepared for my BOC, and right now I do not feel that way. However, I know I can feel that way and I am going to continue to strive for that feeling. I am going to continue working hard on reviewing every day until I take my BOC.
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Reflective JournalsThese journal entries express my experience as an athletic training student Archives
April 2019
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