What does an Athletic Trainer Do?

By Emily Goltz

Today, I will go into more depth about what exactly an athletic trainer does in regards to their daily activities. There is a lot more behind the scenes that happens than from what you would normally see on the field or the the athletic training room.

First of all, athletic trainers are health care professionals. They are there for prevention services, emergency care, clinical diagnosis and assessment, therapeutic interventions, rehabilitation and health care administration. To become an athletic trainer, you need to complete an entry-level athletic training education that has been accredited by CAATE. You can then chose from 16 post-professional degree programs and need to have two residencies. Next, you take the test, which generally takes four hours and has around 170 questions. If you become an athletic trainer, you need to have stamina, empathy, patience, the ability to communicate, be relatable to, and have an ongoing interest in continuing your education. Depending on what state you are in, you need to be licensed, registered or certified.

The athletic trainer is in charge of all administration and record keeping for the athletes she/ he works with. They are required to have risk management, meaning they are in charge of all things that have to do with fire safety, electrical safety, security issues and the emergency action plan. They have to be uncharge of their budgetary concerns. They have to order the correct number of expendable and non-expenible supplies.

Medical reports are the biggest concern of athletic trainers. They need to have all injury reports, treatments logs, personal information cards, injury evaluations and personal notes. On top of just injury and athlete records, they need to keep full reports on financial and medical data. The reason for keeping records is to be able to communicate, for any legal issues, research efforts, and for reimbursements. There is a statue of limitation an athletic trainer can keep their records for. More often than not, after seven years, the records can't be used for anything and that is when the athletic trainer will get rid of them.

KIN 127- Into to Athletic Training, Caroline Lisee, MED, LAT, ATC