Spring '17 Reflective Journal 1

1. My goals for this semester are to attempt/master 5 proficiencies each week, improve my clinical evaluation skills by the end of the semester, and improve my rehabilitation skills by the end of the semester. I chose to focus on these two areas this semester because now that I am back on-site I will be in the clinic a lot more than I was last semester. So this is a good opportunity for me to work on and improve those skills which vital in being an Athletic Trainer. While completing these goals throughout the semester I hope to complete clinical packet quicker while also developing my skills as an Athletic Trainer.
2. Last week while giving pre-practice treatments for women’s basketball I performed an ultrasound treatment and applied a cho-pat strap to player with patellar tendonitis in her left knee. The parameters I used for the ultrasound were a frequency of 3 MHz, a duty cycle of 100% and an intensity of 1.0. The time I set for this treatment was seven minutes. While giving the ultrasound treatment I thought about the effects the modality was having on the patient, which were treating her pain and inflammation from the tendonitis and also breaking up any scar tissue that had developed. As for the effects of the cho-pat strap, I remembered that intervention is used to relieve pain and improve the tracking of her patella. This clinical experience did help me towards my clinical goal of attempting/mastering 5 proficiencies each week, it gave me two attempts within my clinical packet. As for future clinical actions this experience will help me think about the therapeutic effects from the therapeutic interventions I provide for future patients.
3. This week I achieved 4 attempts from my clinical packet towards my completion goal.