SLU AT Student Benefits from Year-long Clinical Experience at Parkway South HS and Mercy Sports Medicine

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Parkway South High School
By: Danielle Jabczynski (MAT Class of 2019)

Spending almost a full academic year at Parkway South High School has helped me gain the best clinical experiences I could have during my final year of graduate school. Being able to learn from Mike Tzianos ATC, has been an incredible opportunity. I have expanded my skillset and gained confidence to allow me to practice on my own once I become certified in a few short weeks.

As I entered my final semester as an athletic training student at Parkway South, I was given more independence. I would take athletes through their rehab and come up with a plan about their return to play. Once I talked it through with my preceptor, I would be the one to have that conversation with the coaches. Since I will be doing this soon without direct supervision, it was great to have the responsibility so that I could feel confident having these conversations.

I also had the chance to shadow Dr. Brian Mahaffey, primary care sports medicine physician for Mercy Sports Medicine and the St. Louis Cardinals. This gave me the chance to shadow his athletic trainer to see how athletic trainers practice in the clinical setting. I was able to look at different radiographs of all types of orthopedic conditions, observe different types of injections, and learn how different types of conditions are managed by a sports medicine physician.

I look forward to finishing up the year with the spring sports. I am eager to continue to take on greater responsibility before I finish up my time with the Parkway South Patriots.

This is one of a series of posts by the Saint Louis University Athletic Training students featuring their clinical site and their preceptors. The number, quality and diversity of clinical instruction are major assets for the SLU AT Program.