Sports Medicine

Purpose and Rationale for the Course: Sports Medicine is an integrative sub-specialty that combines Orthopaedics, Primary Care, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. The Sports Medicine elective introduces medical students to the different specialties within the field and teaches them management of sports injuries. The students will work side by side with sports medicine specialists and team physicians in the out-patient clinic, operating room, concussion clinic, and on the field to understand the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of conditions ranging from acute trauma to chronic overuse injuries. Students will become familiar with pre-participation screening, concussion assessment, and the management of injuries in competitive and recreational athletes.
 
Target Students: Third and fourth year medical students who have an interest in sports medicine.

Course Description: The purpose of the course is to expose medical students to the practice of sports medicine in multiple specialties. Students will work with orthopaedic, PM&R and neuropsychiatry faculty in the clinical setting to gain exposure to the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of sports injuries and concussions. They will observe surgical management of injuries with orthopaedic faculty, and see operative patients for follow up after treatment to understand the recovery and rehabilitation associated with these injuries. Students will participate in seasonal sports coverage to develop an understanding of the role of a team physician. They will become familiar with the types of healthcare professionals who take care of athletes including different physician specialties, physical therapists and athletic trainers. Students will function as an active member of the sports medicine team in the described settings. They will choose a sports medicine topic of interest based on a clinical patient encounter and give a 10-minute presentation about the case, a review of the topic, and describe a timeline for return to sport based on appropriate rehabilitation guidelines.
 
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this course, students should know or be able to:

1. Discuss the components of the pre-participation history and physical examination.
2. Perform a concussion screening.
3. Describe common musculoskeletal conditions that affect the competitive athlete. 
4. Interpret patient follow-up evaluation for return to play following injury or illness.
5. Analyze the role that Sports Medicine physicians play in the functioning of the athletic community with other healthcare professionals.

• Clinical Evaluation - 100%
• Case Presentation - must obtain Pass grade or greater on case presentation