May 24, 2012

The SLU MAT Class of 2014 Hits the Ground Running!


Things are always moving around the Saint Louis University Athletic Training Education Program! SLU commencement just occurred on Saturday May 19th and we welcomed our next class, the MAT Class of 2014, to the professional phase of the program on Monday May 21st.  The students take ANAT 400 Gross Anatomy and MAT 501 Principles of Athletic Training in the first summer of the professional phase and will begin their clinical rotations in August.  The Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training kicked things off with a Welcome Luncheon followed by individual Program Orientation meetings on Wednesday, May 23rd.


The matriculating SLU students in the class are: Nik Andrus, Andrea Auclair, Angelo Bongiorno, Claire Botting, Jessica Buschjost, Cat Costello, Ann DeBartolo, Kelley DeGreeff, Emily Grace, Heather Koch, Jay Maturan, Pat Nolan, Kelly Peck, Mary Rhatigan, John Runde, AJ VanderVorste and Tyler Wood.

The new post-baccalaureate students in the MAT Class of 2014 are: Abby Breseman (Lake Forest College), Michelle Cybulski (Oakland University), Nick Gastorf (University of Missouri), Dan Herrin (University of Missouri) and Blake Hudspeth (Maryville University).

May 15, 2012

SLU AT Student Awarded NATA Foundation Scholarship


Bridget Quirk, a student in the Saint Louis University Athletic Training Program, has been selected to receive a National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) Foundation Scholarship, sponsored by Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers' Society.

She will be recognized during the Pinky Newell Scholarship & Leadership Breakfast at the NATA’s 63rd Annual Meeting & Clinical  Symposia on St. Louis, June 29, 2012.

A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Bridget just completed her first year in the professional phase of the SLU AT Program. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and will receive a Master of Athletic Training degree from SLU in May 2013.


May 07, 2012

SLU AT Students Benefit from a Team Approach to Assessment

Dr. Jason Bennett monitors the action from the control room.
Saint Louis University first year athletic training students were given a realistic final practical examination in MAT 525-Musculoskeletal Assessment and Management.  Course coordinator Dr. Jason Bennett teamed with Dr. Tony Breitbach, the course coordinator for MAT 680 Seminar in Athletic Training, to utilize second year AT students as standardized patients for the practical examination.  Through MAT 680, the second year AT students developed patient case scenarios as an assignment which they then "acted out" as patients for the first year AT students for MAT 525.

SLU first year AT students wait for the sign to enter a patient exam room at the Simulation Lab. 
This was all done in the technology-embedded Simulation Lab in Allied Health Building where six students at a time went through the scenario cases while the instructors viewed the action on digital monitors in a control room.  This video was recorded and a grading rubric was used to grade the first year AT student performance.  The second year students also provided the instructors with feedback regarding communication and other professional behaviors by the first year AT students.  This was followed up with the students writing up the scenario using appropriate documentation procedures.  These type of activities allow for more complete and authentic assessment of clinical skills. 
Special thanks go out to MAT program alumni Jacob Blasingame and Meghan Gehrs who assisted as standardized patients with this activity.