fall reflections from sports medicine

The start of the semester for Sports Medicine was filled with high energy and anticipation of what was to come. For the past couple weeks, in Sports Medicine, we have been learning how to tape ankles and how to perform special tests to diagnose a sprained ankle. We get to not only take this knowledge in our Sim Labs, but also when we go out and work with our home high school Athletic Trainer. Working with our home high school AT is an extremely rewarding experience, because we are on the field and in the training room with all of the athletes. While we don’t have the vast amount of knowledge that our AT’s have, we are still able to be thrown into a situation and know the basics of what we are supposed to do. We have also been working with Cerner IT. This is a great benefit to us because we are not only working directly in Cerner, getting a feel for how it is in real life, but also it gives us an advantage because we aren’t just working with a practice program. As we further our knowledge into Sports Medicine, it opens my eyes to what all an AT really does when treating an athlete.

“CAPS gives me the opportunity to be able to work in a professional environment. Some days there is individual down time which gives me the chance to determine what I want to work on, whether it’s learning medical terminology or mastering my skills with ankle taping. This is beneficial because when you are in a job, sometimes you have to figure out what needs to be done, and not just having someone telling you what to do.” – Lauren Harris, Sports Medicine AM Class

“When you are at CAPS, you get to learn the skills, but when you go and work with your home AT, you get to put the skills to the test and deal with real life situations.” – Hayley Brothers, Sports Medicine AM Class

“We know how to use palpation skills to evaluate a patient, and know what to look for while doing so. Sports Medicine is a great class if you love to do hands on activities. CAPS is a professional environment and a good place to learn a profession.”-Drew Hill, Sports Medicine AM

“The CAPS sports med program is a safe, judgement-free, hands on learning experience that helps you prepare for your future.”-Annabelle Maciak, Sports Medicine PM

“The most beneficial thing we have done in Sports Medicine is becoming First Aid Responder certified.”-Isabel Riede, Sports Medicine PM

“During this last simulation lab, we were able to have a person act out plausible situations. This gave us the closest thing to a real life experience as we can without someone actually being injured. We also learned how to work as a team to solve the problem, along with application of special tests. These tests included capillary refill, compression test, and splinting.”-Jenna Winter, Sports Medicine PM