AANA Fellowship Education - Pre-Season Prep: What Every Sports Medicine Doc Needs to Know-Pre-Season Prep: What Every Sports Medicine Doc Needs to Know

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The webinar, part of the Anna Fellowship series, focused on essential preseason and sideline responsibilities for team physicians, emphasizing athlete safety, preparedness, and sound decision-making.<br /><br />Ashish Bedi reviewed the pre-participation exam (PPE) as both a tool to identify preventable, potentially life-threatening conditions (especially sudden cardiac death risks) and to establish baselines for in-season comparison. He stressed the primacy of a thorough history, serial reassessments over time, and targeted ancillary testing—balancing what is necessary versus excessive—while recognizing evolving issues like mental health, concussion history, sickle cell trait, heat illness, and sport-specific concerns (e.g., female athlete triad). He highlighted that clearance decisions are intended to protect athletes, not to discourage participation, and underscored the importance of AED access and rehearsed emergency response.<br /><br />Gautam Yagnik discussed sideline management as an “extension of the office,” outlining essential equipment (AED, splints, airway access tools, spine gear, exam table) and game-day logistics: arriving early, coordinating with athletic trainers and EMS, knowing the emergency action plan, observing mechanisms of injury, and closing the loop with documentation and follow-up. He also shared professional-sports “pearls,” including staying humble, being “invisible but available,” and communicating carefully with players.<br /><br />Kevin Farmer summarized team physician roles, medical-legal considerations, emergency action plans, and modern spine-boarding principles (airway access, equipment removal familiarity, and multi-person lifts). Case discussions covered transient quadriplegia with an incidental syrinx, knee dislocation evaluation emphasizing vascular assessment (ABI/serial exams), and on-field shoulder dislocation reduction and return-to-play considerations.

Asset Caption

Dr. Paul E. Caldwell | Dr. Kevin W. Farmer | Dr. Asheesh Bedi | Dr. Gautam P. Yagnik | Dr. Patrick A. Smith

Keywords

team physician

preseason responsibilities

sideline management

pre-participation exam (PPE)

sudden cardiac death screening

emergency action plan (EAP)

automated external defibrillator (AED)

concussion history

heat illness

sickle cell trait

spine boarding and airway access

knee dislocation vascular assessment (ABI)

shoulder dislocation reduction and return-to-play