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Five Questions with

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Brandie Martin, ATC

Brandie Martin has been a certified athletic trainer since 2004. After receiving her Master’s degree, Brandie completed her fellowship training in athletic training at The Steadman Clinic. Her clinical experience includes serving as athletic trainer for the U.S. Women’s Alpine Ski Team and U.S. Snowboard Cross Team at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Sochi, as well as multiple alpine skiing world and national championship games. She remains a member of the medical volunteer pool for the United States Olympic Committee. She has been the athletic training medical director for many local sporting organizations and is actively involved in community outreach including concussion management for Eagle County School District and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail. She is currently the Program Director of The Steadman Clinic Athletic Training Residency Program and is the Athletic Training Outreach Program Director for the Steadman Clinic. She is an active member of the Post-Professional Education Committee for the National Athletic Training Association (NATA) and a member of the NATA workgroup on Specialty Certification for athletic trainers.

Q1: Can you give us a brief history of the Steadman Clinic Athletic Training Residency Community Outreach?

"The residency/fellowship program begin in 1996 and at around that same time we started the outreach program — mainly with the local high schools.  But we provide medical services and coverage to a wide variety of institutions, both locally and nationally as well.
 
"We oversee two public high schools here in the valley – our two-main public high schools, Eagle Valley H.S. and Battle Mountain H.S.  We also provide coverage and athletic training services for Vail Mountain School and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail.
 
"Overall, between the high schools and the local ski programs, we probably support close to 1,000 people with athletic training and medical services to our youth programs.
 
"We provide daily coverage at the high schools and on weekends cover their games so we are with the schools roughly six days a week."
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Q2: What is the primary goal of the ATC Residency Program?

"We're providing an education for the athletic trainers.  It's a post-professional educational program. All of these athletic trainers have earned their Masters degrees and they are certified at least one to two years.  "(The program) really emphasizes and hones in on their skills with the orthopaedics.  One of the components of that is they are introduced to the athletic trainer and physician practice setting as well as in the OR (operating room). They gain experience in the operating room and learn to assist there."
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Q3: What makes this program so unique?

"There are a handful of these programs around the nation. In my opinion, we're the top program.  We have 80 or more applicants that apply every year – and we normally accept five to seven – so it is a very competitive program nationwide.  We are one of the most established and have been around about 20 years doing this.  We have nearly 100 graduates from the program.  Part of the uniqueness is that our residents get to work with these world-class physicians and surgeons every day, in clinic and the OR.
 
"Another great point is they (residents) collaborate with the research institute as well, so they have access to the surgical skills lab which is such a unique component of this residency.  The athletic trainers get to practice hands-on skills.  Not only do they get the chance to work with our physicians here but also with the doctors in the MD Fellowship program every year.  They work closely with these MDs and develop relationships with them and this adds a different educational component to our residency program than others around the country may offer."
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Q4: Where do the residents come from and what types of jobs are they placed in upon completion of their time at Steadman?

"Candidates come from all over the country.  Occasionally we get a local Coloradan.  I actually grew up in Eagle so I have the privilege of working close to where I grew up in a job that I truly love."
 
"A lot of these kids come from the big university settings.  We have some recently from the University of Alabama and other major schools.  Sometimes we get residents that have completed internships with NFL teams and they come here to work with and learn more from our great doctors.
 
"The majority of them will actually stay within the physician practice setting.  So instead of going out to a traditional college or high school job they will stick with the clinical setting with a physician.  Some move on to specific assignments. I am an example of that path. After I completed my residency here, I worked with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team for three years and I've been to two Olympics.  One of our graduates works for and is traveling the world with Cirque du Soleil as an athletic trainer. Some go on to pursue their medical degrees.  There have been a few doctors to come out of the program, as well as nurses and PA's (physician assistants).  And some of them have gone back into the traditional setting at colleges and high schools but I would say that the majority of them stay within the physician practice setting."
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Q5: What is the best thing to come out of this residency program?

"The knowledge that they gain in this one-year program exceeds everyone's expectations when they first get here.  They learn so much in this one year.  It just makes them such stronger clinicians coming out of the program because it moves them leaps and bounds above their peers.
 
"They leave here knowing that there is so much more to learn that they become very active educators and continue to be students in orthopaedics as they move on with their careers."
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