I had an extremely busy week with two women’s soccer games and being with Dr. Handy. This week was my first week of two weeks with Dr. Handy, very exciting week. I experienced many things I would never experience in an athletic training world. I began my week on Tuesday with Dr. Handy, I was able to meet nine of Dr. Handy’s, every patient was different, but also very similar. 90% of his patients were over the age of 50, something I had not seen before. A similarity I saw between more than half of the patients was COPD or diabetes. One of the first patients I saw was an older woman with type II diabetes and COPD, she never smoked however had asthma that progressed into COPD. She only needed an appointment for a refill of her medication. The most exciting patient I was able to see with Dr. Handy was a woman who was in for a possible urinary tract infection, however she was unable to use the restroom. She felt like she was about to burst. Dr. Handy knew he needed a urine sample and to empty her bladder, so he decided to use a catheter. I was able to assist with the insertion of the catheter.
The next day I only was able to meet four patients. One man has a very interesting autoimmune disorder where he suffers from a burning tongue and jaw. He had been seen by many different doctors. He had a hard time with many of the doctors and spend a lot of time talking to us about how doctors need to work hard and understand their patients. At the end of the appointment when Dr. Handy asked if he had any other concerns, and he lifted up his shirt and said yes, this spot has worried him. After Dr. Handy looked at the spot he immediately determined it was a squamous cell that needs to be removed. After, I left to go to the soccer game. My athlete with the sprained ankle was doing excellent and recovering well. Before the game I taped her ankle and during half time did some extra stretching. During the end of the game I could tell her was starting to experience a large amount of pain and was limping on the field however, coach did not have any other subs so she had to stay in the game. Friday, I was able to go to Dr. Handy’s clinic to see his last two patients. The first patient was an older man with rheumatoid arthritis experiencing severe shoulder pain, Dr. Handy decided to use a steroid shot in both AC joints. I was able to comfort the patient while Dr. Handy was giving the shots.
0 Comments
This week was a pretty exciting week. I had my first on the field clinical excitement at Meredith College! One of our players went to cut and as soon as she did a player from the other team also went to cut in the same place. At first, I was unsure of what exactly she her while Chaypin and I were running out on the field. It took a minute for the referees to call time because she got up sat down got back up then sat back down finally they called it and the ref allowed us to go on the field and get her. We went out on the field, asked what was wrong and once we eliminated any life-threatening injury we walked her off the field. I then began an evaluation of her ankle. Started palpating around on the lateral side of the ankle right below the lateral malleolus and realized there was a golf ball sized pocket of swelling. I did and Talar tilt test, Kliger’s test, and anterior drawer all the tests were positive for pain and minimal laxity compared bilaterally. She was not in a large amount of pain and with two minutes left before half time we focused most on getting her moving and keeping good range of motion for the second half. During half time I taped her ankle using mule skin to apply more support for her to finish the game. We then did some sport specific testing to make sure she was truly okay, she was totally fine with a normal gate. I explained to her the importance of early appropriate range of motion and that during half time she really needed to keep moving and try to do some ankle pumps. The second half went very well without any accidents for the team and the injured athlete was playing very well. After the game she cut of the tape and her ankle had almost doubled in size, we iced her ankle then got on the bus and told her to come to the clinic the next day. The next day we reevaluated her ankle, she was much more tender on her lateral malleolus so we made sure to do a tap test and a tuning fork test checking for fracture tap test was positive for pain however it was just where Chaypin hit the bottom of the foot. The tuning fork test was negative. For treatment working on her range of motion was extremely important; four ways, and towel curls to start off. To address the pain, IFC, ice and the Normatec. We also made a horseshoe to fit around her lateral malleolus and ace wrap to compression the swelling. I have taken pictures daily to show the progression.
I am very excited to being working on a rehab with her step by step. I am working very hard on my clinical goals. Completing at least ten BOC questions a week has been a huge goal to me. When it comes time to take more practice BOCs I want to do extremely well and know exactly where I need improvement and places and sections to focus on. Some of the BOC questions in the practice book are very particular and kind of confusing, I really need to read the questions in depth and make sure I am looking for questions that ask about not being something and choose all that apply.
Another big goal I have is to become more proficient in the shoulder, in the past I have had a hard time with the shoulder tests along with the muscles surrounding the joint. Being able to assist in the Ortho clinic has been a very helpful! I have seen things I did not think I would be able to see and feel as a student. Not only focusing on one particular sport, but both upper and lower body sports from football to the outdoor program. Finally not a clinical goal, but a goal I think every student has for themselves at the beginning of every semester. Focus on school and not procrastinate on my school work. This semester started off pretty tough with many obstacles over the last week, from the hurricane hitting my parents to my house at school flooding. However this week, I will be getting back on track and staying on top of all my school work. These past couple weeks were very slow for me without much clinical excitement. I have been doing a lot of rehabs with the soccer team for a lot of quad tightness, and hamstring tightness. On Tuesday Sam and I clinically experienced the soccer game. I have attached a picture of Chaypin, Sam, and I from the game where it was pouring down rain! I really love being with the women’s soccer team because I am able to really to connect with the team. I cannot wait to see what this semester brings. This final pre-season has been extremely different from the past. I felt like we were more focused on advanced skills while also refreshing on our emergency skills. I really enjoyed this pre-season, I loved learning how to read an EKG and performing stitches. I also felt like this pre-season I was much more confident, after last semester with Melissa she really helped me become more confident.
Chaypin has made me really feel like an senior ATS putting me in charge of doing evals during practices. When I was experiencing with football for a couple practices, I did not feel like much had changed. I was still doing the same things from the past with football. However, doing with soccer and Chaypin really changed that. I have already completed my goals to help me improve on the things that are a challenge for me, such as rehabilitation, shoulder evaluation, and nutrition. As an AT student I feel as though I have changed an extreme amount as compared to when I first started. First, when entering the program my dream was to continue my education in graduate school for my masters in Occupational therapy. That dream has changed, I no longer want to go to graduate school for OT, however something to continue in the AT field. Second, I was extreming unconfident with my skills with patients and communicating with the patients. There are some instances where I can get a little lost, but communicating with patients now is a lot easier. I am clinically experiencing women’s soccer this semester and I feel my communication with the girls is the best it has ever been with any other team. They will come and talk to me if anything is needed. I am very excited for this semester, I know I will be putting in a lot of time into this group of girls.I have already become very personal with them. None of them get uncomfortable around me or with anything I am doing. Chaypin has also pushed me out of my comfort zone everyday forcing me to be the best I can be. Over the last couple weeks I have spent most of my time with massage and trigger point. At a point over half the team was in the clinic due to injuries. However, now the team is doing really well and is almost all healthy, hopefully by next weekend we will have all the girls back on the field. |