Strengths and weaknesses… It is always so hard to talk about these two little things, and I think that that is because self reflection is challenging, comlex, and sometimes depressing because everyone wants to believe that they are good at everything. However, being able to see, know, and understand your strengths and weaknesses is a wonderful thing. So let me start by talking about my personal weaknesses before I talk about my strengths, that way we can end on a good note. My two biggest weaknesses would have to be time management in general, as well as staying on task when it comes to things that do not require a lot of physical interaction and are mainly mental. I have an issue where time will either slip by before I can realize it has passed or due dates and things like that will be upon me and I will not be prepared for what I need to be. This is not good because as a clinician, I will have things that need to be done at specific times or by specific times. I am trying really hard to get better about these weaknesses by setting timers, phone reminders, writing things down, etc. There are times where somethings work, and there are times where these things do not work. I am still trying to find the combination of things that works best for me. Slowly but surely I am getting better, but it will forever be a battle that I face, especially when the stress begins to rise. Now to talk about my strengths. I am very strong when it comes to interpersonal skills and being creative and thinking outside of the box. Talking is my favorite thing to do, second to breathing. I especially love to talk to the people I am working with and the athletes. Being comfortable enough with myself to talk to anyone and being approachable to those around helps me to build better relationships and connections with the people I encounter. It also helps the athletes I treat to become more comfortable around me, while also increasing their ability to trust in me because they know that I care for more than just the injury they are going through. It is a skill that I am proud to have because I know that a lot of people, especially in the medical field, struggle with being able to talk to people as people rather than people as a case or a puzzle. Being able to be creative is a huge strength as well because if you are not creative then I feel like athletic training may be hard for you, at least to really succeed in it. Most athletic training programs do not receive huge amounts of cash for their budget, which means you need to be able to think outside of the box, especially when it comes to rehabs. These strengths are a continuous work in progress though and I can always get better at them. My motto is to keep an open mind, think outside the box, and always, always be myself.
WORD COUNT: 517
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Many times as an athletic trainer, I will face challenging conversations. Lucky for me, I have had the experience of dealing with some of those conversations as an athletic training student. This semester has proven to be full of many of those challenging conversations. A lot of times these conversations are with coaches or the athletes, and I have had the luxury of discussing issues with an athlete who had recently suffered a season ending injury. The conversation came about a few weeks post op, right at the beginning of his rehab process. Being an eager athlete, I had to sit him down and explain that his rehab was going to have to be very slow. This conversation was very difficult because I had to know and understand the athlete and his mindset, especially when it came to training. He is an athlete who has always pushed his limits and is always looking to lift heavy and progress quickly. Given the nature of his injury, he wasn’t going to be able to approach rehab with the exact same mindset as he approached training prior to the injury. I understood the physiology of the injury and I understood the athlete's mentality, but I was not quite sure how to approach the conversation or how to portray what I needed to effectively. In order to gather a better understanding of what I needed to do, I spoke with a professor during class and spoke of my frustration with figuring out how to approach the situation. She helped me significantly in being able to put what I already had knowledge of into what resulted in a very productive conversation. She also helped me to realize that what I say may not always be taken in completely the first time, and that it does not hurt at all to have the conversation several times in different ways. Sometimes you have to just work through different situations to understand what actually works with each individual person, this taught me that I need to look at everything openly and be ready to make adjustments when necessary because I cannot always approach one situation the same way all the time. I think that a lot of times, people get stuck in trying to do everything one way, especially when it comes to having difficult discussions. They get caught up in trying to have a process for every situation that they forget that there is no right or wrong way to handle things, and that sometimes taking a step back and getting a second opinion or a new idea on how to approach something or someone could actually be beneficial.
WORD COUNT: 442 This semester my biggest goal was to step outside of my comfort zone and do things that make me uncomfortable. I think I have succeeded in doing this in many ways. I have asked questions when I do not understand something, whether it be the purpose or the specific technique. This is big for me because I hate asking for help and would rather learn/figure it out on my own, but I am coming to realize that in order to be a good clinician I have to ask questions and be willing and able to learn from more than just my own knowledge from experience. Another way I stepped out of my comfort zone was by choosing a really difficult and unique rehab for my rehab project. I could have chosen one of the many ACL rehabs that we had, but I chose the biceps tendon rupture for two reasons:1) it is a very rare injury and provides for a very special learning opportunity that most clinicians will never be able to experience. 2) I knew that it would test and push my abilities in the realm of rehab and rehab design, and that excited me. It also scared me, which made it the obvious choice. I have also stepped out of my comfort zone by jumping at the opportunity to perform evals and not just going through the motions, but also by being confident in providing a suggestive diagnosis and evidence/reasoning behind why I believe that to be what is going on. For instance, during clinical experience one day an athlete came to the sidelines during a football game and was having trouble breathing. I saw he was in pain and made the decision to approach him myself and see what was going on. He stated his symptoms and showed me the location of his pain. I palpated and did some simple tests to rule out other possibilities, because at that time I was in between a possible rib fracture, intercostal sprain, or a rib contusion. Based on my findings I concluded that I believed it to be an intercostal sprain. I then presented my case to one of the certified athletic trainers, who then questioned me as to why I believed it was an intercostal sprain rather than something else. After reviewing it himself he concluded that he believed me to be correct. This was such a good feeling because many times in the past I had second guessed or questioned myself when someone above me was questioning my decisions, but this time I stuck to my beliefs and trusted my own knowledge.
WORD COUNT: 438 |