scholarly journals Seeking Greater Relevance for Athletic Training Education Within American Higher Education and the Health Care Professions

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Perrin

This paper addresses several of the challenges facing today's system of higher education, and discusses the implications of these challenges for the athletic training profession. Among the major challenges are cost, accountability, access, and value of a higher education. The paper next focuses on several issues about which athletic training educators should be thinking. They include the importance of a liberal arts education at the undergraduate level, athletic training's role in interprofessional education and practice, and the importance of diversity and inclusive excellence in helping to diversify the health care workforce and reduce health disparities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the evolution of athletic training from physical education to the health care professions and the transition to the professional master's degree as the entry-level degree in athletic training. The contents of this paper are based largely on the keynote address at the 2015 National Athletic Trainers' Association Athletic Training Educators' Conference in Dallas, Texas, February 27–March 1.

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 189-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa S. Jutte ◽  
Fredrick R. Browne ◽  
Marie Reynolds

Context: Interprofessional education (IPE) is encouraged in health care education in the hope that it will improve communication among future health care professionals. In response, health professional education programs are developing IPE curricula. Objective: To determine if a multicourse interprofessional (IP) project impacted students' knowledge and views on other health care professions, as well as their attitudes toward IPE. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Four university classrooms. Patients or Other Participants: Eighty-one undergraduate students (32 men, 49 women) from 4 introductory courses (2 athletic training sections, 41 students; 1 health administration section, 19 students; and 1 nursing section, 21 students) participated in 2 surveys and an IP project. Main Outcome Measure(s): Participants completed a modified Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) questionnaire. The faculty assigned students to an IP group with representation from each discipline. Groups were instructed to produce a presentation on an assigned health care profession. After completing the project, students completed the same modified RIPLS questionnaire. Means and frequency were calculated. Quantitative data were analyzed with analysis of variance followed by Tukey post hoc testing when appropriate. Results: After the IP project, students from all disciplines reported an increased knowledge regarding nursing, health administration, athletic training, and other health care professions in general and how their discipline differed from other health care disciplines. All students agreed that they should practice communication with other health care disciplines. Other perceptions related to IPE did not change. Conclusions: Undergraduate athletic training, health administration, and nursing students who completed an IP project reportedly increased their knowledge of health care disciplines and increased their appreciation for practicing communication among health care disciplines. Future studies should assess how increasing basic knowledge of health care professions may impact the integration of advanced IPE concepts later in one's professional education.


2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 665-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Bowman ◽  
Thomas M. Dodge

Context: Previous researchers have indicated that athletic training education programs (ATEPs) appear to retain students who are motivated and well integrated into their education programs. However, no researchers have examined the factors leading to successful persistence to graduation of recent graduates from ATEPs. Objective: To determine the factors that led students enrolled in a postprofessional education program accredited by the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) to persist to graduation from accredited undergraduate ATEPs. Design: Qualitative study. Setting: Postprofessional education program accredited by the NATA. Patients or Other Participants: Fourteen graduates (12 women, 2 men) of accredited undergraduate entry-level ATEPs who were enrolled in an NATA-accredited postprofessional education program volunteered to participate. Data Collection and Analysis: We conducted semistructured interviews and analyzed data through a grounded theory approach. We used open, axial, and selective coding procedures. To ensure trustworthiness, 2 independent coders analyzed the data. The researchers then negotiated over the coding categories until they reached 100% agreement. We also performed member checks and peer debriefing. Results: Four themes emerged from the data. Decisions to persist to graduation from ATEPs appeared to be influenced by students' positive interactions with faculty, clinical instructors, and peers. The environment of the ATEPs also affected their persistence. Participants thought they learned much in both the clinic and the classroom, and this learning motivated them to persist. Finally, participants could see themselves practicing athletic training as a career, and this greatly influenced their eventual persistence. Conclusions: Our study gives athletic training educators insight into the reasons students persist to graduation from ATEPs. Specifically, athletic training programs should strive to develop close-knit learning communities that stress positive interactions between students and instructors. Athletic training educators also must work to present the athletic training field as exciting and dynamic.


2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Kutz ◽  
Joan Scialli

Objective: To present a model for an educational continuum that identifies entry-level to advance practice competencies and content for athletic training education. Background: Specific degree-level purposes within the context of higher education, in conjunction with professional needs should be addressed in athletic training education. Post-certification (graduate) programs in athletic training should offer increased depth of knowledge and prepare students as clinical experts, scholars, and leaders. To this end, curricular content, based on the athletic training job analysis (i.e., Role Delineation Study), institutional missions, and degree-level specific purposes need to be considered. Description: Graduate athletic training education programs are primarily left to the purview of individual institutions. Using existing curricular development models (i.e., DACUM model and participatory approach) and predictive methods (i.e., Delphi Technique) within the context of higher education, athletic training educators can identify specific competencies and associated content. Then educators can determine the levels of importance of those competencies and content according to the types of athletic training education. Clinical advantages: The proposed framework does not violate institutional and faculty autonomy, but helps to delineate important content for development in graduate athletic training education.


2015 ◽  
pp. 23-24
Author(s):  
Veena Bhalla ◽  
Krishnapratap B. Powar

In the new millennium the Indian higher education system has grown two and half times in terms of both the number of universities and the number of students. In comparison the growth in international students has been anaemic. The international students are largely from Asia and Africa. In 2012-13 40% of the students were female; 80% were studying at the under-graduate level, 18% at post-graduate level and 2% were in research. The liberal arts accounted for 30% and 70% were in professional streams, the maximum number being in medicine & health care (35%) followed by engineering & technology (23%) and management (9%).


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 332-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briyana L. M. Morrell ◽  
Alison M. Nichols ◽  
Craig A. Voll ◽  
Kathleen E. Hetzler ◽  
Jane Toon ◽  
...  

Context: This study explored health care students' experiences after participation in an interprofessional simulation. Interprofessional education incorporates students from several health care professions in a controlled, collaborative learning environment. Athletic training students are not well represented in interprofessional education literature. Objective: This study sought to explore the attitudes of athletic training, nursing, and occupational therapy students toward other professions after their participation in an interprofessional simulation. Design: This article describes the results of the qualitative portion of a mixed-methods study. Focus group discussions related to elements of the Interprofessional Attitude Scale to explore participants' attitudes toward other professions. Researchers analyzed transcribed focus group discussions for themes. Setting: This study occurred in a private midsized Midwestern university. Patients or Other Participants: Seventy-nine students, representing athletic training, nursing, and occupational therapy, participated in the simulation; a sample of 13 of these participated in the focus groups. Intervention(s): Students in all professions cared for or observed the care of a standardized patient from the time of a spinal cord injury on the football field through an ambulance ride and subsequent emergency and inpatient care. Students collaborated and communicated with one another. Faculty conducted debriefing after the simulation and before the focus groups. Main Outcome Measure(s): Focus groups included relevant questions from the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale, and themes were identified from participants' responses. Results: Researchers identified 4 themes from the focus group discussions: collaboration, respect, knowledge of other professions, and communication. These themes also mirror elements of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative's core competencies of interprofessional collaborative practice. Conclusions: After the simulation, students expressed positive attitudes toward other professions. This study suggests that athletic training, nursing, and occupational therapy students have positive attitudes toward each other's professions after an interprofessional simulation activity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie M. Mazerolle ◽  
Thomas G. Bowman

Context: Educational reform is occurring again in athletic training. The profession, at this time, should reflect on the structure of clinical education, particularly with direct supervision. Clinical education plays a critical role in the development of future practitioners and should provide students with a chance to gain autonomous experience, with appropriate feedback and discourse. Objective: In this commentary, we discuss direct supervision and present an alternative model for supervision (graduated supervision) in athletic training. Background: Currently, there are concerns regarding the readiness of students to transition to independent practice. These trepidations are centered on the policies related to direct supervision and chances for students to gain autonomous experiences needed to prepare them to make clinical decisions. Synthesis: Graduated supervision may provide an alternative lens for athletic training to regulate clinical education, while facilitating experiences that can assist in student development and preparedness to transition into independent, credentialed patient care. Results: Athletic training supervision policies do not align with other health care professions, yet a major impetus for educational reform was founded on the premise that we should model our degree level more comparably. Recommendation(s): Programs should allow for supervision that encompasses a trusting relationship between preceptors and students. Supervision can be modified (more versus less constant interactions) based upon the students' performance, knowledge, and skills. Shifting the way supervision is implemented can still allow for ensuring patient and student safety, but also allow for students to become critical thinkers. Conclusion(s): Direct supervision policies should be updated to allow students to develop confidence, competence, and critical thinking abilities as well as to better align the athletic training profession with other health care programs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 259-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Noller ◽  
David C. Berry

Context Lean as a quality improvement philosophy is new to athletic training despite widespread use in health care for many years. Objective To introduce the concepts of Lean and Lean Six Sigma and create a primer document for athletic training educators in the classroom. Background Lean requires organizations to exercise effort along with several dimensions simultaneously to improve patient quality and efficiency while controlling costs and reducing waste. When appropriately executed, Lean transforms how an organization and its employees work, creating an avid quest for quality improvement and, ultimately, patient safety. Synthesis Lean is a cultural transformation that changes how an organization operates. It requires new habits, skills, and attitudes throughout the organization, from executives to front-line staff. Lean is a journey, not a destination. The culture of Lean involves the relentless pursuit of continuous quality improvement and is composed of 6 principles and numerous tools. Recommendation(s) Whether athletic trainers approach Lean or Lean Six Sigma in a leadership role, or as a stakeholder in a Kaizen event, all should have a working knowledge of the principles, methods, elements, philosophy, and tools of robust process improvement. Moreover, while no best-practice statement exists about how to incorporate Lean Six Sigma into a curriculum, addressing process improvement early may allow immersive-experience students an opportunity to engage in a process improvement initiative, facilitating a greater appreciation of the content, and offer opportunities to engage professionals from other disciplines. Conclusion(s) Lean is reproducible in sports medicine clinics, orthopedic practices, and outpatient and athletic health care facilities, but only when athletic trainers understand the application. Moreover, for this reason, athletic training programs should strongly consider adding a robust process improvement course/content to their graduate curriculums.


2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-41
Author(s):  
Carrie Meyer

Our charge is to monitor education-related journals (i.e., Journal of Nursing Education, Journal of Higher Education, etc.) and identify articles which are the most applicable to our readers. We will provide brief synopses of the articles plus potential applications to AT education. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions, comments, or suggestions for this recurring feature or if you would like to review an article that you feel is particularly applicable to athletic training educators. I would also like to hear about implementations you have made from the concepts we present in this feature. – cm


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (15) ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Wallace ◽  
Sarah A. Manspeaker ◽  
Lauren Matthews

Interprofessional education (IPE) is an educational requirement for many health care professions, including speech-language pathology and audiology. Interprofessional approaches to education may be a valuable asset for improving services provided to older adults due to their complex and unique needs required over a longer period of time compared to a younger individual. Studies have also shown that IPE activities may elicit positive changes in student perceptions toward older adults and other professions. However, research describing the best educational practices for conducting IPE aimed at preparing professionals to work with older adults is limited, and many educational programs lack exposure and practice for IPE as their focus is on a single profession. Educators can use information related to the IPE Competency Domains and outcome measurement tools provided in this article to develop IPE experiences. Evaluation of IPE experiences will increase the evidence base and address a critical need in health care for older adults.


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