Taking Care of Yourself

As Athletic Trainers we are constantly taking care of others. We are available for our athletes before, during, and after practices. We assist athletes when they are sick, injured, or lend an ear when they need to talk. Most of us travel to away game with our athletes. We also keep medical records and a collection of other paperwork to keep our athletic training facilities and athletes running. But what about you? What are you doing to keep yourself running? Are you creating time to do the things you love, to workout, to eat healthy? Do we follow the advice we give to our student athlete's?

The longer I have been practicing athletic training the more important working out, eating healthy and finding time to do the things I love has become. Taking care of myself; has helped me take better care of my athletes. Sure summer is here and my list of to dos is just as long as it during the school year, but now is the time to start the habit of taking better care of myself.  Our athletes are always watching us and are more like to take our advice if they see us, following our own advice. It only takes 2 weeks to form a habit, so why not start now?

When is the last time you did something for yourself. Today I challenge you to take one small step and make time to do something to take care of you? Whether its taking the time to cook a good "healthy" meal, going for a run, scheduling a massage, going out with friends or my favorite hanging out at a coffee shop. Whatever you decide is up to you! In the words of Nike "Just Do It"

What Do You Want to Know About the Name Change Discussion?

In January of this year the NATA Board of Directors voted to officially investigate a potential name change for the profession of athletic training.

In February, the group's mission and composition were presented to the board and approved, and in March the announcement was made to the general membership via the weekly e-mail Range of Motion. I was added just prior to the first conference call in April as it was determined that the young professional population needed to be directly represented.

As you can tell from the announcement, this is intended to be a thorough investigation taking all factors into consideration before making a recommendation.

I want to address a few of the questions I'm getting most often in a series of informational posts. If you have any further questions or want any additional information on anything I've referenced, please don't hesitate to contact me.

**Hasn't the Association done this before?**Yes, in 2003-04, under President Julie Max there was a Nomenclature Task Force that investigated the ramifications of changing the name of the profession and the association.
It was determined then that the association should not change the name of the profession. They did not find that "athletic trainer" was an acceptable or descriptive title, but found the risks to outweigh the rewards.
Below, I've summarized their findings and outlined some of the reasoning behind their recommendations.


(DISCLAIMER:This is a summary of a much longer, comprehensive report)
*Legal/Legislative Implications
~Every state law governing the practice of athletic training would have to be opened in order to provide protection of a new title. (In 2004, 30 states had regulation, currently 48 states have regulation). Opening the practice acts could allow for our "competitors" to have a say in our scope of practice. If that were to take place, however, the bill could be withdrawn preventing any changes from being made.
~The second major concern outlined related to the cost of the effort which would be substantial. This cost would, as with other state legislative moves, be paid by the various state associations and its members.
~The final concern in this relates to compliance. In order for a name change to be successful, it must be comprehensive. Every athletic trainer in every state would have to agree to go by the new title. Any variance among states would greatly hinder any potential federal legislative gains.


Membership/Leadership Perceptions
~The membership argued with passion on both sides of the name question; with many younger members favoring a name change while older members were generally against it. They didn't find this to be a rule, however, with many younger members not feeling a change to be necessary. (They did not investigate based on setting) They determined that changing the name of the profession would be very divisive for the association.
~The leadership were found to have much more defined opinions with most committees being against a name change, save for the Committee on Reimbursement who was unanimously for it. Most notably against a name change were the Governmental Affairs Committee and The World Federation of Athletic Training and Therapy.


Reimbursement & Education
~The group investigated the assertion that a name change would result in higher rates of reimbursement and determined that 1) some progress was already being made on these fronts and 2) with no guarantee of advancement as it relates to reimbursement it makes it difficult to move on a "might" given the costs associated.
~Bear in mind that this investigation came on the heels of the significant educational reform that ended the internship route to athletic training certification.  Given that, it was determined that most of the education programs, public and private, were adamantly opposed to the name change.  Additionally, there would be cost associated for each institution to reflect a change.


Other Considerations
~Corporate sponsors did not tie the value of their relationship to NATA to the professions' title and were in support of any decision the association made.
~Those associated with the Journal of Athletic Training were opposed to a change that would cause a title change to our publication as negatively effect the indexing in Index Medicus
~Our Allied Groups (BOC and REF in 2004) would be negatively affected. They found the REF would be negatively impacted with regard to relationships it cultivates with current and prospective donors. While the BOC may have to run parallel processes (one for athletic trainers and one for whatever alternative name is chosen) for most of its programs since a name change could not be uniformly implemented in all 50 states simultaneously.

**Why is the NATA investigating this again?**
Many of the Board of Director's reasons are listed in the initial announcement and relate to the changes in the political, healthcare and education landscapes.  Health Care Reform is in full swing, there have been legislative gains with more state regulation as well as concussion legislation and with our recognition as a "health care provider" following the APTA lawsuit, the NATA feels that it is a good time to re-evaluate.
Additionally, our strategic partners, BOC, REF, CAATE are in support of the investigation at this time.


It is important to the group that this investigation be thorough, unbiased and transparent.  If you have any questions or concerns please express them.


If you are a young professional and haven't already, please fill out this survey and make your voice heard in this critical discussion!


Continue to check back as I will work hard to keep you informed on this ongoing discussion!

Are you in????

I know we all receive those emails with the surveys from graduate students looking to finish their research with the click of your mouse. We all see the SWATA and NATA eblasts come through our emails. We all secretly guess the injury during a game on TV and ignore when the broadcaster talks about the trainers and medical staff. We question in our heads or maybe out loud what the profession is doing for us or why our school or hospital or boss doesn't understand how important we are...

But, I may suggest, the question is really... ARE YOU IN? Are you taking part in the surveys to help out a graduate or are you the one complaining about the 5 minutes spent away from Twitter or Pinterest? Are you reading through the eblasts with the national news about your colleagues or are you complaining we do not get enough coverage? Are you clicking on our corporate sponsors' links or are you complaining your local rep isn't hooking you up like he use to? Are you communicating with the leadership in our associations or are you complaining that your dues don't mean anything? It doesn't take being on a committee or pledging 20 hours of volunteering at NATA. It takes the day to day involvement of filling out those surveys to help a next generation athletic trainer. It takes 5 minutes to explain to a parent who athletic trainers are and what we do. It takes talking to your administration to tell them why it is IMPORTANT to find money in the budget for your dues and CEU's. It takes making a phone call or sending an email to another athletic trainer who went through a rough injury or had a tragedy happen at their school. It take 5 minutes to email someone on the SWATA board with encouragement or suggestions. It takes banding together as a profession and knowing that many are stronger than a few.

We all have our ideals of what the profession should look like and what our organizations should do for us. What are we doing daily to promote our profession and ourselves as professionals?

Here is one of those surveys... written by your colleagues trying to find ways to help make things better for young professionals and all athletic trainers. We need to know what you like and what bothers you. We need suggestions on how to make YOUR associations more accessible. We need you to be in! Please take 5 minutes to fill this out.  We need YOU to be in!

 http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B7B2C2B

Are we in? Are we commited to the profession or to our jobs? Are you in?