Athletic Trainers’ Proficiency in Evaluating Emergency Action Plans and a Subset of Catastrophic Policies and Procedures

in International Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training

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Samantha E. Scarneo-Miller Division of Athletic Training, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

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https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7555-2166 *
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Christianne M. Eason Korey Stringer Institute, University of Connecticut, Mansfield, CT, USA

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3032-8619
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Zachary K. Winkelmann University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

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https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8917-2068
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Christina Emrich Red Bank Regional High School, Little Silver, NJ, USA

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Johna K. Register-Mihalik The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4229-4743
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/ijatt.2022-0019
Keywords:
healthcare administration; emergency care; evaluation; proficient
First Published Online:
14 Apr 2023
In Print:
Ahead of Print
Page Range:
1–8
Restricted access

Written health and safety policies mitigate catastrophic outcomes resulting from sport injuries. The purpose of this project was to evaluate athletic trainers’ proficiency in evaluating catastrophic policies and procedures alignment with best practices. This study found athletic trainers were not able to identify the majority of policy and procedure components based on evidence-based best practice documents. Furthermore, athletic trainers tended to focus more on aesthetics and feasibility versus alignment with current best practices. Results support the need to enhance education specific to policy and procedure development, evaluation, and implementation in order to improve proficiency of clinicians.

Our results reveal that despite self-reported confidence in writing and evaluating policies, athletic trainers were not proficient in recognizing evidence-based practice guidelines and did not appear to focus on specific evidence-based policies and procedures.

Results support the need to enhance education specific to policy and procedure development, evaluation, and implementation in order to improve proficiency of clinicians.

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International Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training

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