Clinical Education

Formal Clinical Education

Clinical education begins in the first summer semester as a graduate student in the MS-AT program.

The purpose of clinical education experiences is to provide you with the opportunity to practice and refine your clinical and decision making skills in the context of direct patient care. During the clinical placement, you are supervised by a licensed athletic trainer who has training as a clinical education preceptor. You will commit an average of 12 hours per week to clinical education. You begin clinical education placements during your first semester and will continue for each semester of the program. The final two semesters include a capstone clinical education placement. Clinical placements are guided by concurrent coursework, type of practice setting (i.e., collegiate, high school, clinical, professional sports, industrial), injury risk level, and sociodemographic factors (i.e., gender, age, urban/suburban/rural). All clinical education experiences are strategically mapped to ensure that you are exposed to as many of the above factors as possible.

Clinical education assignments are coordinated by the Director of Clinical Education and are based upon your class and/or work schedule adn your clinical education goals. This allows the program to accommodate individual student-needs while ensuring each student participates in appropriate, yet diverse supervised clinical experiences. The emphasis of each clinical rotation will directly correspond to the semester-specific set of educational competencies and clinical proficiencies presented in the concurrent academic courses.

Perceptor and Clinical Site Requirements (PDF)

Supplemental Clinical Education

The growth of our community-based clinical affiliates has provided a number of clinical education opportunities to augment your education. These supplemental experiences are organized by the Director of Clinical Education and disseminated to you through email and the weekly seminar class. Examples of recent supplemental clinical education include:

• Shadowing a team physician and/or orthopedic surgeon during surgical procedures, hospital rounds or patient appointments.
• Assisting a licensed athletic trainer with athletic training coverage for local sporting events sponsored by independent organizations such as USA Volleyball and National Youth Soccer Tournaments.
• Assisting a licensed athletic trainer providing coverage for mass participation sporting events, such as marathons, 5K races, triathlons, rugby tournaments, etc.