SLU AT Student Benefits from Autonomy Provided by Preceptor at DeSmet Jesuit HS

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - DeSmet Jesuit High School

By: Joey Wenzl (MAT Class of 2021)

This semester at De Smet high school has been unlike any of my previous clinical rotations. While there have been practices going on the entire semester, we were unsure exactly what they were practicing for, as games were not being allowed to happen in St. Louis County. This made the practices seem meaningless, but I enjoyed getting to practice my skills in a situation where I had to get them back to playing as soon as possible and could be a little more methodical in my evaluation and any potential rehabilitation. Although, with the no games scheduled, the coaches had practices that were less intense and as a result there weren’t many injuries for me to evaluate. 

Most of the beginning part of the days was spent taking temperatures as a safety precaution and as the semester progressed, there was an app that all students had to complete as well that we checked to make sure they were symptom free. Not exactly the most exciting thing to do, but since it was mandated by the county we decided that it would be best to do. We have progressed to just relying on the symptom check that the athletes do before school now to suffice for our own checks. 

Now that there are games, practices have picked up in intensity and there are more opportunities for me to continue my growth and improve on my skills. In addition to this, some of the players and coaches are starting to trust me more and are allowing me to do more than I had been doing. My preceptor, Mercy Sports Medicine Athletic Trainer and SLU alum Dan Herrin MAT, ATC provides supervision and helps me along if I get stuck, but the trust from the players is a confidence booster and having them come to me with their problems and allowing me the first look is something that has helped my growth tremendously. 

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.