Would an athletic training internship count as clinical experience?

[spsuperstar]

So I’ve been interning with the Sports Medicine team for the football program at my university. I know it’s not the typical “clinical” setting per se, but it’s still working with patients (athletes recovering from injury/surgery). We do a lot of rehabbing, physical therapy type stuff, in addition to the typical athletic training things like taping joints, hydration, providing first aid, and helping athletes in situations of acute stress (overheating, dehydration, cramping, heat stroke, etc.).So yeah basically title, could I possibly count these as clinical experience hours?

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[LizzyM]

Are they patients? Do you call them patients? See my sig line. If you are going to list this as a clinical experience, refer to the people as patients.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I will agree (it is likely clinical experience), but it would be more convincing to me if you had hospital experience working with the PT or OT team as opposed to just working under the athletics department. Otherwise it begs the question why not a masters in athletic training?

 

[LizzyM]

Let's just say that this should not be your only clinical experience and you should also have some paid or unpaid experience in a more traditional clinical setting.

 

[spsuperstar]

I will agree (it is likely clinical experience), but it would be more convincing to me if you had hospital experience working with the PT or OT team as opposed to just working under the athletics department. Otherwise it begs the question why not a masters in athletic training?

Well I worked as a medical assistant in a traditional outpatient clinic setting prior to my current athletic training internship so I do have that experience as well. However, this athletic training internship was a unique opportunity that was presented to me where I could still continue to learn patient care but also engage one of my major personal interests outside of healthcare. Ultimately, my ambitions are indeed greater than the level of care that athletic trainers are able to provide their patients; I want the expertise and depth of knowledge that comes with being a physician, the ability to lead a healthcare team, and the ability to treat more complex cases. Additionally, physicians are often very involved in research and conducting clinical trials, this is something that I am interested in that does not lie within the scope of athletic training. Does this possibly answer some of your questions?

 

[spsuperstar]

Let's just say that this should not be your only clinical experience and you should also have some paid or unpaid experience in a more traditional clinical setting.

Hi, thanks for getting back to me! As I said in response to Mr. Smile above, I have actually worked as a paid medical assistant in a traditional clinical setting prior to beginning this athletic training internship. So I do have both. Additionally, while we do not in our day to day refer to them as patients (we often just call them by name or refer to them as 'the athletes' or 'players'), our relationship with them is very much a healthcare provider-patient relationship. As I said in my original post, we (especially I as a student trainer who does not have a license) mostly treat minor sports-related injuries or acute cases of physical stress. I mostly took on this job because I found it a great way for me to continue to learn patient care/interaction while also incorporating one of my interests outside of healthcare. I found it a unique opportunity that I could do while in college and then transition back to a more traditional clinic/hospital setting upon graduation during my gap year. I hope this helps kind of demystify my motivations and maybe strengthen the ethos of my experience. Let me know!

 

[LizzyM]

If you aren't a licensed care provider (e.g. not an EMT-B) and the people aren't considered "patients" it might be more humble of you to call this non-clinical and let reviewers up-code you than to call it clinical and have adcom reviewers second guess you.

 

[Goro]

So I’ve been interning with the Sports Medicine team for the football program at my university. I know it’s not the typical “clinical” setting per se, but it’s still working with patients (athletes recovering from injury/surgery). We do a lot of rehabbing, physical therapy type stuff, in addition to the typical athletic training things like taping joints, hydration, providing first aid, and helping athletes in situations of acute stress (overheating, dehydration, cramping, heat stroke, etc.).So yeah basically title, could I possibly count these as clinical experience hours?

Nope. They're not patients