Administrative issues in the management of a sports medicine program

Sports medicine is a subspecialty of medicine which has recently gained prominence in this country. It is usually practiced in conjunction with a specific program of sports medicine in an institutional setting, such as a university. This article describes the integration of sports medicine and the department of athletics at Yale University. The athletic medicine department, as it is called, treats both the injuries and other medical problems of students participating in the organized athletic programs, be they intercollegiate or intramural, which are organized by the University. Problems that arise both medically, such as when to play an injured player, and administratively, such as who should supervise trainers, are discussed. Guidelines are given for choosing the director of this program, as are examples of how to deal with problems between the physicians and the coaches.