Clinical Education is a required component of the MSAT. All students enrolled in the Graduate ATP will complete clinical education rotations and assignments over a minimum of two years. Clinical Education experiences are completed both on-campus with the CU Sports Medicine Staff and athletic teams and the staff of the Student Health Center and off-campus at other approved affiliated sites with trained preceptors. Students are responsible for ensuring their own transportation and all related costs to attend on-campus and off-campus clinical experiences.

The Athletic Training Faculty have determined that credit hours will not be based solely on the number of required clinical hours or the hours per week spent in class, but rather the overall intensity of the course. Such course characteristics considered when determining the credit allocation include, minimum and maximum clinical hour requirements, whether proficiencies are required, the frequency and duration of face-to-face classroom and lab instruction or activities, whether a case study is required, and the clinical commitment based on the type of experiences (ie, simulation-based, clinical observation, clinical experience, interprofessional observation/experience, clinical immersion).

AT 560: Athletic Training Practicum and Seminar I &
AT 665: Athletic Training Practicum and Seminar IV 

AT 560 and 665 are each worth 1 credit and occur, respectively, during the first and second year of the graduate program. These hybrid courses begin during the second 4-week summer session with brief online training for bloodborne pathogens, personal protective equipment, HIPAA, and FERPA during the summer II session. They end with an approximate 10-day intensive of in-person training which has led to these courses being nicknamed “Bootcamps.” Bootcamp includes program orientation, clinical orientation, and face-to-face instruction and simulation of basic hands-on skills needed prior to beginning clinical experiences with live patients.

At this point first-year students in AT 560 have not been taught any hand-on skills yet as part of the graduate program. It is the belief of the Graduate ATP faculty that students should at least have minimal instruction, beyond the CPR prerequisite, before being exposed to situations where they would be interacting with live patients. The in-person portion of AT 560 is focused on early skills introduction and development related to Information such as taking a medical history and documentation, vital signs, palpation, setting patient goals, first aid, and taping, padding and wrapping to enable first-year students to be more involved during clinical experiences in the initial weeks of the subsequent fall semester. While a majority of this will be faculty led, second-year students will mentor first-year students during Bootcamp. Only first-year students will have proficiencies which will be instructed and reviewed by second-year students before being assessed by faculty or preceptors.

The reason these courses are considered practicums, and not just seminars, is students will have predetermined clinical experience responsibilities integrated into the 10-day Bootcamp. First-year students will assist the sports medicine staff with pre-season and orthopedic screenings. They may expect to participate in 10 to 25 hours of these screening experiences toward the end of Bootcamp after training and instruction has been provided. Second-year students in AT 665 will help preceptors in mentoring first-year students during patient screenings while also assisting with full pre-season clinical experiences involving athletic patients. They may expect to participate in 20 to 40 hours over the 10-day period.

Instructional and clinical differences in time are balanced because second-year students will be rotating schedules to work during sessions when first-year students are receiving instruction. While the expectations for both Bootcamp courses are different base on the students’ year the overall intensity is comparable.

AT 561: Athletic Training Practicum and Seminar II
AT 562: Athletic Training Practicum and Seminar III

The fall and spring of the first year include AT 561 and AT 562, respectively, with each being worth 3 credits. These are traditional semester-long practicums where students are required to complete clinical experiences with trained preceptors in athletic training settings. While the semester is 16 weeks, these courses are only technically 15 weeks long because there are no clinical requirements during the final exam week and all course requirements are due prior to exam week. Both practicums require a minimum of 200 hours of clinical experiences and a maximum of 300 hours over the 15 weeks. Students will be required to complete proficiencies in both courses that are based on the content and skills learned from course that were taken in the previous semesters so that students can continue to work towards mastery. The seminar portions of these courses are when the cohort meets as a group. Seminar meetings include simulation and supplemental skills and rehearsal related to themes identified for each practicum. Students in both courses will be required to write a fully inclusive case study paper and course presentation and will submit them for presentation at a professional conference. These classes will meet at most for 3 hours per week.

AT 667: Athletic Training Practicum and Seminar V
AT 668: Athletic Training Practicum and Seminar VI 

AT 667 and AT 668 are worth 2 credits. They follow the same design at the first year practicum and seminar courses, but only last the first 8-weeks of each semester to enable second-year students to participate in clinical immersions the second half of the semester. They will require a minimum of 100 hours of clinical experiences and a maximum of 150 hours over the 8 weeks. Students will be required to complete proficiencies in both courses that are based on the content and skills learned from course that were taken in the previous semesters so that students can continue to work towards mastery. Students in both courses will be required to write a fully inclusive case study paper and course presentation and will submit them for presentation at a professional conference. These classes will meet at most for 3 hours per week during the same 8-week periods. While the clinical experience hour requirements are half of AT 561 and AT 562, the duration is over half and all of the other expectations are the same including a similar amount of information included in proficiencies and the case study that must be completed in a shorter period of time. Therefore, it is the determination of the faculty that these courses or over half of the intensity of the 3-credit AT 561 and AT 562.

AT 663: Interprofessional Practicum
AT 664: Interprofessional Practicum II

AT 663 and AT 664 are completed during the summer terms of the second year. They are worth 1 credit each. These clinical experiences will be 4-week experiences at off-site locations under the supervision of trained preceptors who are non-athletic training health care professionals to encourage interprofessional collaboration to enhance patient care. While it is the same credit as the bootcamp practicums which are a shorter 10-day duration, there is less of an instructional component to this course, there are no proficiencies, themes, or new content associated with these experiences, but students are required to report their experiences through virtual case presentations and engage in regular cohort and journal discussions. This is half the duration of the 2 credit practicums and the daily time commitment will be shorter which all lower the intensity level. Students will be expected to participate in a minimum of 50 hours and a maximum of 100 hours for each interprofessional experience.

AT 650: Clinical Immersion I
AT 651: Clinical Immersion II

AT 650 and AT 651 are each 4 credit immersive experiences. They will occur during the second 8-weeks of the fall and spring semesters, respectively, during the second year. No other courses will be taught during these immersive experiences so students may engage in a full-time clinical atmosphere. The 8th week of these immersions will be during the rest of the universities exam week, but since students in these courses will not have other courses they will not have any exams to take and can therefor continue to participate in the immersive experience. There are no set minimum and maximum hour requirements for immersions because of the vast differences among athletic training setting and locations. Immersions are considered full-time experiences so the expectation is if the preceptor is working, the student should be working as well. An estimated 40-hour work week may be a reasonable expectation, but students should also be prepared for lesser and greater time commitments potentially varying between 20 and 60 hours in a week based on the setting and location requirements. Students will still have virtual case presentations and journal discussion. Because of the full-time expectation of this course it is considered to have the highest level of intensity of all of the clinical-related courses.