Adherence to Drug-Dispensation and Drug-Administration Laws and Guidelines in Collegiate Athletic Training Rooms

OBJECTIVE: To assess adherence in collegiate athletic training rooms to federal drug laws and to describe current practices. DESIGN AND SETTING: We created a survey of drug-law adherence using federal drug laws and administration guidelines and mailed it to randomly selected certified athletic trainers (ATCs) in United States college and university athletic training rooms. Means, standard deviations, and cross-tabulations were calculated to assess demographic information. A nonparametric test (Kruskal-Wallis) was calculated to compare adherence-score means. RESULTS: Adherence scores were collected from 168 college and university ATCs. The data suggest that ATCs in most athletic training rooms are still not complying with federal drug laws. Drug-dispensation and -administration adherence scores ranged from 5 to 20 (20% to 80% adherence) of 25 points. On average, 49.3% of ATCs in athletic training rooms had marginal adherence to federal regulations (12.34 adherence score). The difference between adherence scores and National Collegiate Athletic Association athletic divisions (Division I, II, III, and III/National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics; P <.002) was significant. In most athletic training rooms, ATCs (55.9%) and students (13.3%) dispensed prescription drugs. In addition, ATCs in most athletic training rooms (53.8%) administered any amount of over-the-counter medication as necessary, and many did not record the transaction (46.2%). DISCUSSION: Nine years after the National Collegiate Athletic Association drug-distribution study in university athletic programs, similar problem areas persist, including unqualified personnel dispensing medications, inappropriately packaged and labeled medications, and a lack of record keeping. CONCLUSIONS: Athletic trainers should work in conjunction with members of the sports medicine team to review federal and state laws and revise institutional drug policies and procedures to comply with regulations in order to provide the best health care to student athletes in a legal and safe manner.