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Event Coverage

Sports Medicine provides an interesting dynamic in patient care. Athletes are motivated and energetic individuals. Their decision making process can often be clouded by outside influences in the form of parent, coach, and team expectations. These individuals can be difficult to hold back from athletic competition even though their medical condition warrants a period of rest for rehabilitation. The opportunity to counsel and treat patients who are athletes, in the setting of the athletic training room and on the sideline, is unique to sports medicine. In these settings, the sports medicine physician must be proficient in quickly assessing, diagnosing, and forming a treatment plan as it relates to return to play decisions. This process can be precarious in light of the pressures related to outside influences. Overall, the sports medicine physician's role is to help an athlete to get back on the field as quickly as possible while at the same time protecting the athlete from themselves and other outside influences. At times, this can be a difficult and lonely path. This experience will be garnered in the following ways:

1. Capital University Training Room/Sideline Coverage:
   The fellow will provide comprehensive and continuing care to Division III collegiate athletes during weekly training room visits, football games and sports events under the supervision of the Nationwide Children's Sports Medicine faculty.
2. High School Training Room and Event Coverage:
   The fellow will provide comprehensive and continuing care to a local high school in the Columbus area during weekly training room visits, football games and sports events under the supervision of the Nationwide Children's Sports Medicine faculty.
3. Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (Mass Participation Event):
   The fellow will aid Dr. Thomas Pommering (Division Chief and Medical Director, Nationwide Children's Sports Medicine) in planning, organizing, and executing event medical coverage for more than 3,000 cyclists during a week long bike excursion through Ohio.

Conferences

Scholarly Activity/Research

Supporting and encouraging scholarly activities is necessary for a fellow's personal and professional development and program improvement. To foster the fellow's growth, understanding, and appreciation of evidence based medicine through scholarly activity, the fellow will learn skills necessary to read medical literature in an evidence based fashion, answer medical questions, and apply knowledge with a critical and rationale thought process when treating patients. This will be accomplished by learning to be effective at teaching, analyzing data, assimilating data, applying data, and if desired, entering into original research.

To ensure such an environment, the fellow can expect to engage in the following:

• Monthly Case Conference:
  The fellow will present a case at monthly Case Conference pertaining to an interesting/difficult case revolving around patient care. Case Conference is utilized as an un-intimidating and friendly forum to discuss difficult patient cases. The fellow will seek and incorporate feedback and self-assessment into a plan for professional growth and practice improvement. The fellow will seek and incorporate feedback and assistance in patient care through the use of case conference to help answer questions concerning improved patient care by interacting in a collegial setting with peers.
• Journal Club:
  The fellow will present a journal article review at the monthly sports medicine journal club.
• Scholarly Activity:
  The fellow is required to participate in a research project or scholarly activity. To ensure that protected time is given for reading, writing, preparing lectures, and conducting research, one half day per week is dedicated to scholarly activity. Additional time throughout the week is granted if necessary. During the one year of sports medicine fellowship training, a formal research project is not required secondary to a year time constraint to obtain approval for such a project from the IRB, initiate data collection, assimilate data, and publish data. The sports medicine faculty realizes the importance of clinical research. If the fellow wishes to participate in research, they will have ample opportunity to do so with the sports medicine faculty. If the fellow wishes to engage in an individual project, the sports medicine faculty will help guide and direct the fellow to accomplish the project in a timely manner so as the project is realistic with regards to time constraints.
  
  The fellow is required to submit a case presentation/poster or research project at either the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) or the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) national meetings. The case can be obtained from any of the daily clinics or training rooms the fellow participates. The case should be original and theoretically uncommon or complicated. The objective is to research care on a case in an evidence based fashion and apply decisions concerning diagnostics and treatment in an analytical fashion why demonstrating gathering, synthesis, and accuracy of information to make decisions about patient management.
  
  The fellow is required to publish either a journal review article or textbook chapter pertaining to a musculoskeletal/sports medicine topic.
• Quality Improvement Project:
  The fellow will complete a quality improvement project to help improve the practice of sports medicine in either the clinic, training room, or sideline settings. This will be done with the guidance of a sports medicine faculty designated as the fellow's mentor. This project is utilized to improve a systems and/or practice based aspect of sports medicine patient care. The project will be presented to all sports medicine faculty and support staff at the end of the fellowship year.