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Instructor/Advisor

Allison Higgins

Keywords

Athletic training, Organizational Models, Athlete Care

Abstract

Athletic trainers play a critical role in college athletics, however many athletic trainers at this level face significant work-life conflicts due to long-hours, travel, and coaching demands. Additionally colleges and universities face staffing problems due to high turnover rates and inadequate salary and benefits. Unfortunately these problems affect not only the athletic trainers, but also the quality of care student-athletes receive. Transitioning to a medical organizational model can help to reduce these issues. In the medical model the head athletic trainer would report to a team physician who works under the college or universities health services instead of reporting to the athletics department. The purpose of this project was to review the current literature and provide evidence for the benefits and importance of a collegiate athletics department adopting a medical model for athletic training services. The literature review was conducted utilizing articles found in the online databases of GoogleScholar, SportDiscus, and PubMed. The findings show that major benefits of a medical model are better work-life balance, role congruity, and increased staffing. The increased staffing also correlates with better quality of care for the student-athletes. This project shows that there are multiple benefits to transitioning to a medical model for athletic training services. Athletic trainers should bring this evidence to whomever they report to and advocate for this change, and organizations like the NCAA and NATA should be advocating for this model as well.

Promoting the Benefits and Importance of Utilizing a Medical Organizational Model in Collegiate Athletic Training

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