Sports Medicine Personal Statement

In the last several years I developed an area of focus to sport medicine. Sports medicine is a multidisciplinary clinical and academic specialty provides continues care on and off the field, extending that care beyond diagnosing and treating injuries to include health promotion, rehabilitation and injury prevention not only to elite athletes but to any participants of physical activities in almost all age groups.
My short experience in iron man events and the exposure I got during my training, I recognize the immense need of this specialty in Oman.

With growing population of the country, more than 70% of the population (based on 2014 census) is in the active age category. Add to that the increase awareness and attention to the importance of exercise, there are more people participating in sports either on professional or recreational level. In addition the country is
the hub of many national and international sport events that required highly qualified physicians to meet the international standards. Temporary recruitment of medical staff might be challenging and costly on the long run.

Female athletes face unique challenges not only physically but as well issues related to gender stereotyping in a world commonly dominated by male (coaches, trainers and therapists).
Being in more conservative society pose more difficulties on these athletes and therefore I aim during my fellowship to gain experience and knowledge that could help me to work with athletes particularly females on national level. Other goals that I envision are to establish dedicated sports medicine clinics that will help to improve the current systems in several ways
- Provide timely fashioned follow up for patients who present to different emergency rooms (trauma and non trauma ordinated ERs) with sports related injures without the fear of losing follow up or transferring them to the trauma centers. This might contribute in reducing the unnecessary wait time in the trauma center given that the patient has been seen and evaluated by a physician.
- Helps in triage, decision-making and utilize medical recourses appropriately.
- Developing and training residents and staff and eventually build our own training
program.

Historically, orthopedics surgeons used to provide the majority of care for athletes. Sports medicine covers areas beyond the nature of orthopedics specialty like non-operative musculoskeletal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, screening elite athletes, general medical conditions and doping which makes the bulk of athlete’s issues. Having 5 years of training in emergency medicine will give me a strong backbone to excel in this subspecialty. I will make a point during my fellowship to gain firm foundation in pathophysiology and general clinical skills that is involved in the field of sports medicine

It might not be appealing right now to have physicians trained in sports medicine giving the pressing need to have physicians in other major subspecialties, but the world of sport is growing specially with the FIFA 2022 being held in a nearby country. The country is calling for organizing recognizable sport competitions and events, which has financial and advertising benefits. Having advanced professional sports medicine establishments might help in attracting sports organizations to select Oman as hosting country for these events.

I would appreciate an opportunity to continue to grow and learn in area I am passionate. I truly see a strong demand for the specialty and I am confident that I can contribute significantly in filling the need. I ultimately believe that my job will inspire other young learner to be innovative and different and creat a positive impact to the health system in Oman.

Sincerely
Isra Al Lawati
PGY 4 Emergency medicine
McGill University