Athletic Trainers' Perceptions of Advanced Clinical Practice: Characteristics of Advanced Practice Athletic Trainers

Context: The ''Strategic Priorities for Athletic Training Education'' promote the development of clinical specialists and advanced practice leaders; however, little is known about the characteristics of advanced practice athletic trainers. Peer health professions have formal education and training programs and specialized credentials to denote advanced practice clinicians; however, such mechanisms are only now emerging in athletic training. As training and credentialing programs advance, it is important to understand the perceived characteristics of clinicians engaged in advanced clinical practice. Objective: To explore how athletic trainers perceive the characteristics of clinicians advanced practice clinicians. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Self-reported online survey. Participants: Of 1992 athletic trainers invited to participate, 350 accessed the survey (17.6% access rate); 321 respondents completed at least 1 open-ended question, and 196 completed the entire survey (61.1% completion rate). Main Outcome Measures: Consensual qualitative research approach consisting of a 3-person team was used to analyze the open-ended responses. Members individually coded the initial set of responses and then met to develop a consensus codebook. Remaining responses were coded by 2 team members and were confirmed by the third member. Data were organized into themes and categories, and frequency counts were used for each category. Results: Four categories of characteristics associated with advanced practice clinicians emerged: (1) intrapersonal skills, (2) interpersonal skills, (3) discipline specific knowledge and skills, and (4) experience. Conclusions: Intrapersonal skills including lifelong learning, critical thinking, and willingness to mentor others were identified, in addition to strong communication and leadership skills. Discipline-specific knowledge and skills were also associated with advanced clinical practice, including specialized skills and advanced integration of the core competencies. Accredited Athletic Training Residency programs and Doctor of Athletic Training programs should strive to foster these characteristics within their students to facilitate the development of advanced practice athletic trainers.