Often the world of athletic training, we hear the word “impact”. There can often be a common misconception of
what the true word of “impact” means.
Any athletic trainer will tell you that when they hear the word “impact”,
they automatically think of ImPACT testing.
An ImPACT test was developed by clinical experts who pioneered the field
of helping treat concussions. ImPACT
(Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) is the most-widely
used and most scientifically validated computerized concussion evaluation
system. ImPACT provides trained
clinicians with neurocognitive assessment tools and services that have been
medically accepted as state-of-the-art best practices -- as part of determining
safe return to play decisions. Though this is appealing and VERY important in
decision making regarding athlete’s return to play protocol, I prefer to think
of impact as something that we ensure as health care professionals…something
that we choose to do. Here is how we can
make an ImPACT of our own in the profession of athletic training:
Get involved!! – How often do we see those
people just “sitting” on a job? One
thing comes to mind…supervisor. Yes, we
all know that CEO’s and big Whigs of major corporations are apparently making
the “big bucks”. But what is it that
they really do? Sure, they might be a
pencil pusher and big “high man on the totem pole” who calls the shots. BUT, are they actually teaching you
anything? What is it that you are learning
from your superior? Are you learning
anything at all? If you commonly find
yourself stuck between a rock and a hard sport regarding the “day in and day
out” normal work grind of the run of the mill job, you are spinning your
wheels. I challenge you all to broaden
your knowledge base of sports medicine and to get involved in an organization
in some way or another. Reach out and join a committee, or volunteer to help
others. You’d be surprised how much this
would make a difference. Even if you don’t learn anything new, there is always
the chance you could educate someone else and become a teacher!
Vote!!- Every couple of years, there is always the
opportunity to elect new board members into new organizations. Some of which you may have heard of: SWATA,
NATA, GHATS, YPC…etc. The list is endless.
How are we able to broaden our base of knowledge and implement knowledge
construction in place of knowledge reproduction if we don’t elect new leaders
or teachers of our own? Remember that
old hag you had in grade school who was mean to everyone. 20 years later, you realize that she’s still
around and now it’s not you dealing with her, only your children are. Sound familiar?! Need I say more? I rest my case!
Stay abreast on
current research!!- Yes, yes,
yes. I know. Last thing that we all want
to hear are the words “statistically significant” or “the null hypothesis
showed that p is less than 0.5….” blah blah blah. I myself hated statistics and am NOT a
research person. But let me ask you this: The first time you ate some of
grandma’s cookies that were dry and tasted like chocolate chip corn bread, did
you ask for more? No!! You found a way to bake something better
right?! Why? Because who wants to eat something that tastes atrocious? I sure don’t. So, does it make sense to keep
“spinning” our wheels? I think you can answer that one.
There are new trends of research and medicine that are
evolving every day. As health care
professionals, how are we to treat the hurt and wounded if we aren’t up to
speed on current research and medicine?
These are just a few of what I can think of off the top of
my head. The list goes on and on. Like I said, athletic trainers are some of
the most unnoticed and disregarded professionals in their line of work. However, we are called on to help those in
times of dire need and emergencies. If
we lose focus for just a second in this line of work, than we too start to spin
our wheels. Only then do we make an impact on others, but in a negative way.
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