Athletic Training Student Core Competency Implementation During Patient Encounters

Health care research evidence suggests that early patient encounters (PEs), as well as the purposeful implementation of professional core competencies (CCs), for athletic training students (ATSs) may be beneficial to their ability to provide care. However, no investigators have related facets of the clinical education experience with CC implementation as a form of summative assessment of the clinical experience.

To determine the relationship between the frequency and length of PEs, as well as the student's role and clinical site during PEs, and the students' perceived CC implementation during these encounters.

Cross-sectional study.

Professional athletic training program, National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I institution.

We purposefully recruited 1 athletic training program that used E*Value software; 40 participants (31 females, 9 males) enrolled in the professional phase (12 first year, 14 second year, 14 third year) participated.

Participants viewed a 20-minute recorded CC educational module followed by educational handouts, which were also posted online for reference throughout the semester. The E*Value software was used to track PEs, including the type of encounter (ie, actual patient, practice encounter, didactic practice scenario), the type of site where the encounter occurred (university, high school), and the participant's role (observed, assisted, performed), as well as responses to an added block of questions indicating which, if any, of the CCs were implemented during the PE.

Variables per patient were PE length (minutes), participant role, site at which the encounter occurred, and whether any of the 6 CCs were implemented ( yes/ no). Variables per participant were average encounter length (minutes), encounter frequency, modal role, clinical site assignment, and the number of times each CC was implemented. Separate 1-way analyses of variance were used to examine the relationships between role or clinical site and implementation of total number of CCs. Multiple linear regressions were used to determine how the average length and frequency of PEs were related to the average and total number of implemented CCs. Binary logistic regression models indicated how the length of each encounter, role of the participant, and type of clinical site related to the implementation of each CC.

The roles of participants during PEs were related to their ability to implement the total number of CCs ( F = 103.48, P < .001). Those who observed were likely to implement fewer total CCs than those who assisted (M diff = -0.29, P < .001); those who assisted were likely to implement more total CCs than those who performed (M diff = 0.32, P < .001). Frequency of encounters was the only significant variable in the model examining all independent variables with CC implementation ( b_4,32 = 3.34, t = 9.46, P < .001).

The role of the student, namely assisting during PEs, and the volume of PEs should be considered priorities for students to promote greater CC implementation.