Why Are ATs Being Kept In The Dark?

In a time where healthcare has become very specialized, difficult to access, and exorbitantly expensive, why are athletic trainers still being kept in the dark and not utilized for the breadth of their athletic training education and ability to care?

If, as healthcare providers, we have taken a Professional and Hippocratic Oath 'To Do No Harm,' why is society withholding access to qualified healthcare providers such as athletic trainers?

The oath also includes 'Beneficence' – Physicians must work in the best interest of their patients; my interpretation of this statement is providing adequate access to care.

While reflecting on the vast landscape of skills athletic trainers hold, athletic trainers are health care professionals who collaborate with physicians to optimize patient physical capacity, health and well-being. The practice of athletic training encompasses the prevention, examination and diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of emergent, acute, subacute, and chronic neuromusculoskeletal conditions, and management of general medical conditions in order to minimize subsequent impairments, functional limitations, disability, and societal limitations.

With National Athletic Training Month upon us, it’s essential to advocate for how athletic trainers (ATs) seamlessly integrate into the broader landscape of public healthcare access, promoting and achieving optimal patient well-being. True collaboration and respect are at the core of athletic training, ensuring the best patient outcomes. This is an obligation that ATs, as healthcare providers, have pledged to uphold. ATs are answering the call to serve, reinforcing their vital role in comprehensive patient care.

Reference

Hortz, B. Scope of Practice: Factors to Consider. NATA. Accessed 3/4/25 from: https://www.nata.org/sites/default/files/scope-of-practice.pdf