St. Luke’s University Health Network announces that its Athletic Training Residency Program has become the eighth program in the country to receive accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Education.

“With the continuing evolution of athletic training, identifying and fortifying these specialty areas is the next step for our profession,” said Jim Reidy, East/New Jersey Athletic Training Residency Program Director for St. Luke’s Sports Medicine.

The athletic training residents work directly with orthopedic surgeon Nick Avallone, M.D., the program’s medical director, and receive instruction from our core faculty members Brian Gloyeske, Kevin Call and Chris Servian, all board certified and licensed athletic trainers.

According to Reidy, the majority of the residents’ time is spent working directly with Dr. Avallone mainly out of St. Luke’s Warren Campus.

The residents also spend 100 hours with musculoskeletal radiology staff to become proficient in reading X-rays and MRIs and enhancing the care provided by orthopedic physicians.

Athletic training residents receive leadership training, and also complete training in casting and bracing and participate in surgical scrub training.

The residents learn through simulations and take part in advanced patient-reported outcome analysis.

Accreditation from the CAATE requires a rigorous vetting process that highlights 102 standards a program must meet. The first two years of St. Luke’s program were dedicated to refining the program’s vision.

In 2017-18, St. Luke’s completed a self-study and then underwent a site visit by CAATE to ensure compliance with the standards.

St. Luke’s Athletic Training Residency Program is now in its fourth year.

As of 2018, the program offers residencies to a maximum of three qualified candidates annually in order to ensure an intensive one-on-one focus.

“With our ties to St. Luke’s Medical Education, we are well positioned to design and offer accredited athletic training residencies in other specialties areas like primary care, pediatrics, prevention and wellness, and rehabilitation.

“Once these residency programs mature the next step professionally will be to build fellowship training programs in subspecialty areas,” Reidy said.

“Several years ago St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care and Sports Medicine set out to design and implement an innovative residency program for athletic trainers,” said John Hauth, senior network administrator for Sports Medicine at St. Luke’s.

The awarding of initial accreditation is worthy of recognition and provides further evidence of St. Luke’s commitment to preparing the best practitioners for service to their communities.