SLU AT Student Benefits from Hands-on Approach Facilitated by Preceptor at Lindbergh HS

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Lindbergh High School
By: Ryan Frantz (SLU MAT Class of 2019)

Last semester, I was in a collegiate setting with a plethora of modalities available. Now, I am in a high school setting with minimal modalities so adjustments were necessary for me to transition in to the new setting. The lack of modalities requires a more hands-on approach which, in my opinion, requires more one-on-one interactions with the athletes, and because of that, getting to know the athletes has been much easier. It has also allowed me an opportunity to work on my skills with evaluation, taping, and rehabilitation. Sometimes, however, these can get quite overwhelming being that there is one athletic trainer and hundreds of athletes who may need our care.

My preceptor, Danielle Zee-Cheng, ATC, has challenged me to understand the dynamics of athletic training. She allows me to evaluate every athlete that comes in, and afterwards, asks a multitude of questions pertaining to what I did/didn’t do and why I did/didn’t do it. She told me she wants me to understand my thoughts and solutions, which I believe is going to benefit me greatly long-term because she requires me to verbally interpret my thoughts and articulate them in a way that makes sense to us and the athlete. All of this is going to be great practice for my evaluation and my communication skills with, not just the athletes, but with health care providers, as well. She has also allowed me to practice my documentation skills of each evaluation I do, which is another skill I lack that she is helping me improve on.

Having hundreds of athletes, one athletic trainer, and a small space/limited tools to work with, things can get overwhelming, but the interactions I have had thus far with Danielle, the athletes, and members of the Lindbergh school district have made it an enjoyable experience. Lindbergh has a rich, winning tradition that I’m glad to be a part of, and I’m hoping the spring sports season is something to look forward to.

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.

SLU AT Students Inducted into Alpha Eta Allied Health Honor Society

The Saint Louis University chapter of Alpha Eta, the National Scholastic Honor Society for Allied Health Professions, held its annual induction ceremony in the Multipurpose Room of the Allied Health Building at Saint Louis University on November 16, 2017.

The Society is named for the Greek letters equivalent to the first letters of Allied Health (AH), which are Alpha Eta.  The purpose of the Society is the promotion and recognition of significant scholarship, leadership, and contributions to the allied health professions.

The following SLU AT students were honored in this year's ceremony:

• Alexander Hubbs - Liberty, Missouri (MAT Class of 2018)
• Erin Fabbri - Des Plaines, Illinois (MAT Class of 2019)
• Ryan Frantz - Troy, Missouri (MAT Class of 2019)
• Chris Mecherle - Bloomington, Illinois (MAT Class of 2019)
• Margaret (Maggie) Rowell - Lakewood, Ohio (MAT Class of 2019)

Congratulations to this year's Alpha Eta honorees!

SLU AT Students Benefit from Excellent Facilities and Dedicated Preceptors at Missouri Baptist University

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Missouri Baptist University

By: Matt Eifert, Ryan Frantz and Justin Ullom (SLU MAT Class of 2019)

What can we say about Missouri Baptist University? The first thing that struck us was the almost overwhelming number of modalities that they have available to use in their athletic training room. Essentially, if you could dream it, you could get your hands on it at MoBap. The wide range of modalities has helped us to develop our rehabilitation skills on multiple levels, from simply using an innovative Normatech machine, to more complicated things such as doing a combination of stim and ultrasound. It is obvious that MoBap does not shy away from advances in medicine, as any modality that has proven benefits is used, no matter how recently it was discovered. Clearly there are the simple things such as bags of ice, but then there are also the more recent modalities such as the aforementioned Normatech machines, which deal with intermittent compression, as well as fire-cupping. It was extremely beneficial to the three of us to have all these modalities present at our first clinical site, because now we are proficient across the board is the use of them.

The other thing we came to love at MoBap was building the relationship with the athletes. When we first arrived, we had two long weeks of two a days where we did not know any of the players, nor their mannerisms. As we have built our relationships with the players, we have come to realize when an athlete is just being himself, or when he is actually hurt. We also found that the stronger our bond became with the athletes, the more easily they trusted us with what we were asking them to do, no longer being skeptical of who we were or if we actually knew what we were doing. That was one of our barriers initially, as we are the same age or barely older than some of these athletes, so they could not necessarily trust that we had the knowledge in us to properly treat them right off the bat.

In summary, we have gotten a great idea of what it is like to take care of athletes at the college level, as well as how important it is to build a strong bond with your athletes so that they trust you with your care. College level athletics are taken much more seriously than high school, and it shows in how the athletes expect to be treated for quick return to play from injuries, as well as the vastly larger time commitment that is involved with taking care of a college-level athletic team as compared to what some high school teams require.

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.

SLU Pre-professional AT Student Finds Excellent Role Models at Missouri Baptist University

New AT Student Blog Post - Ryan Frantz (SLU MAT Class of 2019)

This spring, I had the opportunity to go and observe many different clinical sites in the Saint Louis area to increase my understanding of what it means to be an athletic trainer. Of the clinical sites visited, I found myself returning to Missouri Baptist most often. Ashley Broughton, MS, ATC and the PY1 students allowed me to practice my taping on them and provided advice as to how I could improve my work. Over the course of this semester, I have to say the success I have had at strengthening my taping abilities was greatly contributed to by those at Missouri Baptist. Observing at Missouri Baptist also provided a great opportunity to learn about the different types of technology used in the field, such as Normatek, ultrasound, and many others. Having little to no knowledge of such equipment, I was provided a quality introduction to how a lot of the technologies work which should prepare me for my future education.

Missouri Baptist and its athletic training staff are great role models for how I would like to be when I begin practicing. Ashley was able to teach me so much while I was there, and she allowed me to ask as many questions as I could while answering them to the best of her knowledge to help me. Every time I entered the athletic training room, I always felt very welcomed by everybody there, and each day, I always expected to learn something new that I had never expected to learn about. From my observations here and at all other sites, I haven’t decided whether I would rather work with high schools or colleges, but I do have higher hopes leading in to the first professional phase and clinical site.

This is one of a series of blog posts written by students entering the professional phase of the SLU AT Program as a part of MAT 3000 - AT Student Development II.

SLU AT Program Honors Academic Excellence at Annual Speakers Series

The Saint Louis Athletic Training Program held its Annual Speakers Series and Recognition Ceremony on Monday, February 9, 2015 in the Wall Auditorium of the Edwin Everest Education Union on the SLU Medical Center Campus,

The evening began with the initiation of the newest members of the SLU Alpha Iota Chapter of Iota Tau Alpha, the National Athletic Training Honor Society.

The students initiated to Iota Tau Alpha are:

New Graduate Members

Christian J. Ahlstrom

Brittany A. Koops

Christopher J. Miller

Eldon R. Reid

New Undergraduate Members

Demeisha A. Crawford

Ryan N. Frantz

Jenna C. Ginsberg

Candie M. Hill

Dustin M. Jamboretz

Amelia R. Meigs

Michael M. Milek

Emily R. Mott

Raquel M. Roberts-Hamilton

Daniel R. Smith

Following the Iota Tau Alpha ceremony, there was a Dedication Ceremony for the Clarence "Bob" Bauman Endowed Scholarship at Saint Louis University.  Bauman Scholarship Co-Chair Kim Tucci recognized Michael Aaron as the first-ever receipient of this scholarship, intended to recognize overall excellence and support SLU AT students in the second professional year in the program.

SLU AT Student Michael Aaron and Kim Tucci.

Keynote speaker Neeru Jayanthi MD then addressed the crowd of over 100 AT students, their families and health professionals in the audience with a presentation titled: "Sports Specialized Training in Young Athletes: Is this Helping or Hurting?" 

Dr. Neeru Jayanthi

Dr. Jayanthi's talk was followed by a lively discussion by a panel of experts on Youth Sports and Injury.  The panelists included Amy Schork ATC, Tyler Wadsworth MD and Richard Colignon PhD.

Dr. Tyler Wadsworth moderated the panel discussion.

Dr. Jayanthi, Amy Schork and Dr. Richard Colignon.

The evening wrapped up a pizza reception sponsored by SLATS, the SLU AT Student Association.

Overall, the festivities provided a great means to recognize SLU AT Students and learn about a very important topic.