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.
I recently experience something I never thought I would experience as an athletic training student, I splinted a dislocated elbow. After saying “I splinted a dislocated elbow,” it sounds really cool, however, I was actually terrified when I did it. Here is how it happened. I was at John Battle for my offsite clinical rotation watching a boys jv basketball game. All of a sudden a young boy fell from an unexpected screen from the opposing team and landed on an outstretched arm. This event occurred on the other side of the court, so it was hard for Bre and I to see his elbow was dislocated. We waited until we noticed the boy was not getting up, and then Bre and I ran over to the other side of the court to assist the player. The assistant and head coach were already over there once we got there, so again we had no idea how hurt the boy was. The head coach, who is a surgeon, was able to reduce the elbow to relieve some of the pain for the boy. Bre was able to take control and help support the elbow in place while I went to get a sam’s splint. We immediately took him over to the side, and I had the sam splint ready to give to Bre to put on the boys elbow. However, Bre looked at me and said “be assertive,” so I quickly applied the splint to the boys elbow while Bre slowly took her hands away from supporting the elbow. I was very nervous once she said that, but it kind of hit me like a train and gave me a lot of courage to put the splint on the boys arm just how I had been taught in my Emergency Care class. I did not want the boy to see I was hesitant in my skills, so I quickly straighten up from being shocked to applying the splint exactly how I was taught. I knew how to splint an elbow; I had just never performed this action before in a real life setting, so I was very frazzled after the event. After I put the splint on, I began thinking of different ways I could have approached my splint job. I was worried I did not do it perfectly. I was able to talk to Bre after, and she told me how I applied the splint was the exact way she would have done it also. I am glad I got this experience because I was able to get my first real injury over with, and now I feel confident to splint any injury that I come into contact with especially an elbow. I believe this incident helped me towards my clinical goal because, even though I am a perfectionist, I was able to gain confidence in myself and splint the elbow. I now feel way more confident in splinting any type of injury because this event proved to me I am capable of splinting. This event did show to me that no matter the situation, I do know what I am doing I just need to have confidence in myself. Who cares if its not perfect because no one is perfect. However, the more experience I have the better I will be for the next traumatic event. Lastly, I was able to get 3 attempts this week.
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My goals for my clinical packet are quiet personal to me. I try to challenge myself a lot, and I get frustrated if I don’t complete the challenge (which is why I pick challenging goals). I am way too competitive even with myself sometimes. One of my favorite goals, which I have used for the past two semesters, is to review each body section a week. The aim for this goal was to make myself have a week dedicated to one body segment and focus on the bony landmark, soft tissue structure, and special tests. In the fall, I was able to review the entire body twice. However, I realized last semester I was missing a little piece that would have helped for my exit interview. I didn’t think about looking at certain injuries and the mechanism at which they occurred. I think this really affected me on my exit last semester. When I was reviewing I never compared different types of injuries or how to differentiate different types of injuries. So over Christmas break, I made flash cards that included step by step process for that certain injury. I think this was a big key in helping me pass my exit over break. I have been reviewing these flash cards along with the bony landmark, soft tissue structure, and special tests. I believe this process is a great way to review all around. I am able to feel more confident in the clinic when performing evaluations, and I am able to start reviewing for my exit interview at the end of the semester. This semester I have slacked a little on this goal. I have been focusing a lot of time on chemistry because I have a test once a week, however, I am still able to review my flash cards and special tests. I think one weakness I have from this goal is I can not perform an evaluation on a person. I am not preforming the special tests on someone and practicing palpating the persons bony and soft tissue landmarks. Although I do have a plan! I know when I am able to start hardcore studying for the exit, I will have other athletic training students to practice going through an evaluation. So I am not fully nervous for the exit since I have been preparing since the first week of school, however, I still have a lot of work to do to make sure I am ready for the interview. I love this goal because its very challenging. I try to take 15 minutes out of each day to sit down and review, but when I don’t have enough time that day, I review every Sunday. I have really challenged myself this semester by making sure each week I sit down and just review as much as I can. Just having a refresher every week is very helpful when I am performing evaluations in the clinic. Lastly, I did not get any attempts of masteries this week because it was spring break!
After I have achieved my degrees and licenses, a day in the future life of Sam involves a very busy plan scheduled. I see myself starting the day off with patients scheduled from 9 AM to 12PM, lunch break from 12-1, and then finishing off the day seeing patients until around 5:30. These patients will be coming to me for evaluations from a prior injury. I will be diagnosis the patient by either sending them to imaging or being able to perform certain tests to figure out with their injury consists of. On Monday and Wednesday, I will be working in the operating room assisting the physician with different types of orthopedic surgeries. I see myself seeing around 10 patients a day, this allows me to spend time with the patients to get to know them on a personal basis. Sometimes I will have new patients come into the clinic, but I will be reevaluating these patients to release them. My main goal in life is to help others. I want to be placed some type of health care system that allows me to help as many people as I can. I want to start by helping others as an Athletic Trainer then working my way up to become a Physician Assistant. My dream is to become an PA that has specialized in orthopedics or in women’s health care/pediatrics. I want to be able to know my patients on personal basis and be able to work with them throughout their injury process. I am getting closer and closer to this goal, I have one more year of undergraduate then taking the last step in my schooling process to graduate school. Throughout my undergraduate I am learning so much about orthopedics and believe I will be ahead of others in this category in graduate school. I get excited every morning because I am able to be in a clinic and evaluate different patients which will help me in my future because I will have many patient contacts. Recently, I have talked to two PAs about shadowing them over the summer. I have also looked into taking a course to help prepare me for the GRE. I am planning on taking the GRE over the summer/August time to allow me to have enough time to apply to multiple PA schools. Lastly, I have also been looking at different PA schools around this area because I have been told I can not put all my eggs into one basket (Emory). I am very excited to start my career, however, very hesitant because I do not know where I will end up. I wasn’t able to get any masteries or attempts this week.
Athletic trainers have a huge spectrum in which their job title falls under. The athletic training month slogan expresses that very well. The slogan, “Compassionate Care for All,” expresses that no matter the injury the athletic trainer always goes farther because they care about the athletes. They aren’t there to put a bandage on someone or tape an ankle for practice and move on, they are there to find the source of the problem and continue to fix it until there is no pain. This doesn’t even have to be in injury. This can be a mental or emotional problem. An athletic trainer has the most interaction compared to any other health care professional. This is a huge advantage to other health care providers because they are with the athletes all the time. This enables them to be able to notice different changes in their athletes which can help them care for them. This can show when an athlete isn’t just having a bad day, but they are having bad weeks or mood changes. They are able to pull the athlete aside and talk to them when they notice something is wrong. They are also a friend for their athletes. They are with them all the time and are used to their busy schedule, and sometimes the athletes need to come and let out all their stress in which the athletic trainer is there to listen to them which is usually all someone needs. They can help the athlete by giving them advice on how to better their schedule. This message really reflects me because my goal in life is to help others. I want to be the person that patients/people want to come to when they are injured, struggling mentally, or even going through something emotionally. By being an athletic trainer, you have the ability to embody all these aspects. This message reflects the representation of an athletic trainer because it expresses the means that they care for all. You do not have to be an athlete that gets injured from their sport, but even someone who has an eating disorder and needs someone to talk to find help and get better. Lastly, my attempts and masteries for the week. I had a really tough week to find time to meet with Bre because my mid day classes and wasn’t able to clinically experience with her. I did however spend a lot of time with Chaypin and was able to get 2 attempts.
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Reflective JournalsThese journal entries express my experience as an athletic training student Archives
April 2019
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