SLU AT Students Build Their Skills in a Dynamic and Collaborative Environment with Billiken Athletics

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Saint Louis University Athletics

By: Maddie Cavanaugh, Amra Kardasevic, and Michael Ryan (MAT Class of 2022)

For the start of our PY2 semesters, we have had the opportunity to gain clinical experience at Saint Louis University.  SLU provides a multitude of sports the opportunity to work with a variety of athletes and Certified Athletic Trainers.  Amra Kardasevic and Maddie Cavanaugh are primarily assisting Jonathan Burch, ATC, with Men’s Basketball.  Michael Ryan is primarily assisting Ben Heimos, ATC, with Men’s Soccer and will assist with Baseball in the Spring.  We are able to spend numerous hours in the athletic training room, gaining experience from all of the staff ATs and learn from the individual, unique skillsets.

It is a unique opportunity to provide medical care for high level athletes.  While basketball is still early on in pre-season, we are getting to see and assist with practices, rehabilitations and injury prevention. Men’s Soccer is partially through their season, so I have been seeing how rehabilitations differ when a player gets a minor injury in a game when the goal is to get them ready for the next game as opposed to how injuries are treated in pre-season.

Maddie and Amra look forward to getting the game day experience and the possibility of traveling with the team eventually to see what both home and away games look like for a Division I Certified Athletic Trainer for basketball.  Maddie is looking forward to experiencing the interprofessional atmosphere between the ATCs, strength and conditioning staff and nutritionists within Chaifetz.  Amra is eager to experience a fast pace environment that is associated with game day and learning more clinical skills from both ATCs and other medical staff if injuries arise.  Michael is looking forward to continuing to learn and get more experience to hone his skills as an athletic training student. Having experienced a few game days already this year, Michael is excited to continue being utilized on those days to help prepare the team for their game. 

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 Student Learns New Skills in Regenerative Therapy at Bluetail Medical Group

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Bluetail Medical Group

By: Amra Kardasevic (MAT Class of 2022)

I am currently in the middle of my summer field experience at Bluetail Medical Group and I am loving it! My preceptor, Devon Guckes, ATC, works an athletic trainer with physician Matthew Bayes MD. Dr. Bayes specializes in sports medicine injuries and non-operative treatments including regenerative therapies. He utilizes ultrasound to guide his treatments and aid in confirming diagnoses. 

Devon’s role consists of performing initial evaluations on new patients, doing follow-up interviews on patients that have been recently treated, preparing equipment for procedures and injections, and many other things. The regenerative treatments that they do are mostly for patients with arthritis. The stem cells help to regenerate cartilage and give those people around 5-7 years of relief before it starts deteriorating again. They are also used for muscle tears and partial ligament and tendon tears, to help rebuild them more quickly and decrease the chance of reinjury. It has been very cool to see patients come back for a follow up and be doing a lot better because of these treatments.

This summer at Bluetail I have had the opportunity to see patients and complete their history and evaluations on my own. After doing this, I am able to go in with Dr. Bayes and assist with the ultrasound and observe him doing his evaluation and giving recommendations for treatment. I have also been able to assist him with some procedures and injections, which has been a very unique experience that I have not gotten to have before. We have seen patients with lots of different musculoskeletal injuries, along with a good amount of concussions so I am getting a lot of exposure to pretty much everything. It is also a different patient population than I am used to, with a wide range of ages and activity levels that we see.

I am really enjoying my time at Bluetail and am learning so much from Devon and Dr. Bayes and his medical assistant. Everyone is very dedicated to giving their patients the best care possible which is very refreshing to see. I am enjoying the clinical setting because I like seeing how helping manage other medical conditions can also help with musculoskeletal injuries. 

I am looking forward to continuing my experience and everything that I will learn in the upcoming weeks!

Students in the Saint Louis University Athletic Training Program have an immersive field experience in the summer between their two professional years in the program. This blog post details a student's reflection on their experience.

SLU AT Students Inducted into Alpha Eta Allied Health Honor Society

The Saint Louis University chapter of Alpha Eta, the National Honor Society for Allied Health Professions, held its annual induction ceremony virtually at Saint Louis University on November 12, 2020.

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:

• Madelyn Cavanaugh - Carmel, Indiana (MAT Class of 2022)
• Amra Kardasevic - St. Louis, Missouri (MAT Class of 2022)
• Katie Wissing - Brookfield, Wisconsin (MAT Class of 2022)

Congratulations to this year's Alpha Eta honorees!

SLU AT Students Practice and Grow Clinical Skills in Positive Environment at John Burroughs School

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - John Burroughs School 

By: Kate Perko (SLU MAT Class of 2021) and Amra Kardasevic (MAT Class of 2022)

Activities are ramping up at John Burroughs as St. Louis County lifts COVID-19 mandates. John Burroughs School is a small, private, co-ed school serving 7th through 12th grade students. Burroughs has taken great precautions to bring students back to in person classes and sports activities safely. As games have begun, it is obvious that these precautions have been effective as we move into our 3rd week of contests.

Our preceptor Dean Tiffany, ATC is John Burroughs' athletic trainer, assistant athletic director, and wrestling coach. It has been eye opening to see how he balances his commitments and responsibilities effectively. With that, he has given us every opportunity, under his supervision, to step in and evaluate injuries, assign rehab, and determine return to play. During the first weeks of the semester, before contests were allowed, we used our time to practice taping techniques, modalities, lower extremity evaluations, and manual therapy techniques.

The community that John Burroughs has established among its students and athletes shines through after spending just one day with the people there. All of the staff and students are incredibly welcoming not only to us, but to each other as well. The amount of support and encouragement there is in the athletic training room among athletes creates a very positive environment that is essential for successful healing.

Even with a slow start to the semester, we have gotten to see quite a few interesting injuries, including a patellar dislocation and an ACL tear. As sports contests are starting to get back to “normal” we are excited to see how the rest of the semester will play out. We look forward to getting more opportunities to use our skills and being able to help the students play and feel their best!

GO BOMBERS!

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.

Annual SLU AT Program Speaker Series Recognizes Student Excellence and Features Entrepreneurship in Health Care

9th Annual SLU Athletic Training Speakers Series and Recognition Ceremony

The Saint Louis University Athletic Training Program hosted its 9th Annual Speaker Series and Recognition Ceremony on Monday, February 17, 2020 at 7:00 pm in the Education Union Auditorium on Medical Center (South) Campus.

The event was presented by the Saint Louis University chapter of Iota Tau Alpha - the Athletic Training Honor Society - and supported by the SLU Student Government Association. The evening began with the 2020 initiation ceremony for the SLU Alpha Iota Chapter of Iota Tau Alpha, the National Athletic Training Honor Society.

Alpha Iota Chapter - Iota Tau Alpha - 2020 Honorees

Graduate -

Hannah Daily and Justin Durham

Undergraduate - 

Emily Haley, Amra  Kardasevic, Olivia Mani, Eldwin Neritani, Alexander Smith, Lauren Swords and Katherine Wissing

The formal program began with SLU AT student Allison Stefan's remarks remembering Rick Larsen ATC, Washington University Health Athletic Trainer and SLU AT Program preceptor, who passed away earlier in the month.

SLU Director of Campus Ministry Sue Chawszczewski gave an invocation and Doisy College of Health Sciences Dean Mardell Wilson made introductory remarks and welcomed attendees.

The Brandi Burgett Memorial Award and Scholarship was awarded, with Brandi's parents Robert and Marnie Burgett making remarks and recognizing the scholarship honorees Alejandra Chavez, Abby Hoffman and Caitlyn Thomas. Bauman Scholarship award winners Allison Stefan and Caitlyn Thomas were also recognized. 

The keynote speaker for the event was Mark Kaufman PT, ATC, Founder and Executive Chairman of Athletico Physical Therapy. The title of his presentation was: “Better for Every Body, Business Success Built on a Strong Foundation as a Health Professional”

Following the keynote presentation, there was a panel discussion which included Mark Kaufman; along with KD Consulting Owner and Missouri Athletic Trainers' Association President Karen Fennell, MS, ATC; Khazen AthletiKare Owner Lori Khazen, MS, ATC; and SLU Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training Mike Markee, PT, DPT, OCS, COMT, ATC

It was once again an evening of informative discussion and special recognition of SLU AT students!

Photo gallery from the event: https://lnkd.in/eN2QNHj 

Link to video of the keynote and panel presentation: https://lnkd.in/eSQdaiT