First lets get a few things straight:
FACT: I have been a Certified Athletic Trainer for 20 years.
FACT: I STILL love being a Certified Athletic Trainer
FACT: I love my job.
FACT: I am not burnt out.
FACT: I am not opposed to change (as long as its for the better)
I have been quite vocal in the past that I felt the change to Master's Degree was a mistake. However, that is done. So now we all have to make sure its done right.
So what has prompted my ire? Stories that are coming back to me from my former students and others. It is not WHAT or HOW we are teaching. It is WHO is teaching and HOW they are treating students. It is time to drop the inferiority complex as a profession. I know the landscape of healthcare is changing and we need to change with it, I know other professions are trying to hold us back, but this profession was built on rolling up our sleeves and doing good work. We got respect based upon how well we treated our patient population. Its time to focus on that again.
We used to be focused on how MANY students we got to pass the exam. Now we are only concerned with what PERCENTAGE in your program pass the exam. (Yes, I get why....doesn't make it right). Congratulations, you are now teaching to a test. Perhaps we can spend time actually teaching these young potential Athletic Trainers how to actually put their knowledge to good use? We need to do a better job of setting these students up to succeed and continue their career.
Yes, this generation of students are different than mine. A sense of entitlement only continues to exist if you allow it to. Educators need to stop complaining they have no work ethic and help INSTILL that work ethic. Its called mentoring, its an important part of the educational process. Trying to intimidate and instill fear is not mentoring. Its simply running students out of your program to help meet your stats. I am tired of hearing stories of professors playing mind games with their students. Yes, congrats, you got your Phd, MEd, or your DAT, you are very smart. We get it. It does not make you a better teacher or mentor because you stayed in school for so long. Yes students graduating know have been given a knowledge base far more advanced than I ever had at that stage in my career. That doesn't mean they can actually use it and be successful. Don't worry, they passed their test, you did your job. If they don't succeed or stay in the profession just say they couldn't hack it or no one else respects Athletic Training, not your fault. (Keep telling yourself that).
The only reason one should go into Athletic Training education is a desire to help these future colleagues learn and grow. Instead we have too many people becoming educators because they don't want to work as a clinical Athletic Trainer anymore. Its the truth and most of you know it.
Here is another news flash, time to start being a bit more selective about who your preceptors are and where you are sending your students. I get that its a struggle to have enough sites to go around. Am I a clinical site? Nope. Been approached over and over again from multiple programs. I continue to say no. Why? Because I don't feel I have the time or resources to do the job right. I refuse to take a student just to do it. Here is another tip, stop trying to sell being a clinical site to an Athletic Trainer by saying the students will be a big help. That's not the purpose.
One final parting shot (here is the time to get your popcorn)....
Can we please stand up to the drone producing faction of Athletic Training education that is brainwashing students that there is only ONE way to be an Athletic Trainer and that everyone else is inferior and wrong in how they do their job. I am certain they everyone reading this knows EXACTLY WHO and WHAT I am talking about. If your offended...you are probably a member of that hive mentality of arrogance and elitism. And no, I am not shy and will gladly say the same right to those peoples faces. If you know me, you know that I could care less what they think.
I know there are still good people and good educators out there fighting the good fight. There are still those becoming educators for the right reasons. There are still programs who are doing things the RIGHT way. I respect and applaud all of you. There are just a lot less of you every year and its a shame.
Sorry for the rambling, but it was time to resurface.
I want my profession back.
