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

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.

Automated summary

The purpose of this project was to evaluate athletic trainers' proficiency in assessing the alignment of health and safety policies and procedures with best practices. The study found that athletic trainers had difficulty identifying the components of policies and procedures based on evidence-based best practices. They tended to prioritize aesthetics and feasibility rather than alignment with current best practices. The results highlight the need for improved education on policy and procedure development, evaluation, and implementation to enhance the proficiency of clinicians.