Baseline testing over 500 athletes had become an overwhelmingly time consuming task for Jessica Rummery at Bettendorf High School. The individual attention and manpower it previously required was a strain on the athletic training room as a whole. Now, Sway has given Rummery the tool to make her day-to-day life easier.
If nothing else, the amount of time saved by switching to Sway is an invaluable measure in Jessica’s athletic training room. Rummery tells us that previously completing baseline testing would require eight additional athletic trainers coming in to complete testing. The group would each baseline test for 4 hours a day. All eight athletic trainers could only test one athlete at a time, because each person required an iPad, and individual testing for 20 minutes at a time. When making the switch to Sway, Rummery was able to conduct basketball baseline testing entirely solo. In 30 minutes, all 30 athletes were able to test and have their test verified. Before, in that 30 minutes it took to baseline test the entire team, Jessica would’ve only completed one baseline test.
The time saved isn’t just during baseline testing, but also post-injury. Sway’s ability to assign individualized codes, and athletes test independently, allows Jessica to treat multiple athletes at once. Rummery tells us of a point in time when she was managing 4 head injuries at once. Each of these athletes were in a different stage of their return to play protocol, but she could manage all at once without stress. Rummery described how she set a quiet space aside in the athletic training room for Sway tests, and in that 20 minutes, worked with orthopedic rehabs. Before, because each head injury required 30 minutes of Jessica’s direct attention, each was time consuming to manage, especially with multiple steps. During this time, she also couldn’t be conducting orthopedic rehabs. She would give her orthopedic rehab patients home exercises programs to complete on their own. Now, those rehabs receive the quality instruction Jessica is capable of, yet the head injuries still have quality test results. This has allowed for athletes to have autonomy in their return to play protocol, while still being supervised. The efficiency has increased the quality of care Rummery provides all around.
Beyond injury care, Rummery utilizes Sway as a screening instrument. The ease of reading Sway test reports, with red, yellow, and green lines, quickly shows an athlete’s weaknesses. Once identified, Rummery is able to create a program to target and improve the deficiencies. During the training, the athlete can retest and Rummery can track their progress in an evidence based practice manner.
Sway’s ease of use has not only improved baseline testing procedures, post injury care and management, and training enhancement, but also communication. Jessica created a login for her campus nurse so athletes can check in with the clinic during the day. If an athlete sees the nurse, the check in notes are within the Sway profiles for Rummery. This creates a strong working relationship between multidisciplinary healthcare professionals, which provides seamless continuity of care. Overall Jessica sums up Sway’s functionality as “efficiency” and “a tool that gave her more time back in her day”.