Core Competency-Related Professional Behaviors During Patient Encounters: A Report from the AATE Research Network

Context: To enhance the quality of patient care, it is important that athletic trainers integrate the components of the core competencies (CCs; evidence-based practice [EBP], patient-centered care [PCC], health information technology [HIT], interprofessional education and collaborative practice [IPECP], quality improvement [QI], professionalism) as a part of routine clinical practice. It is unclear in what ways, if any, athletic training students (ATSs) are integrating CCs throughout patient encounters (PEs) during clinical experiences. Objective: To describe which professional behaviors associated with the CCs were implemented by ATSs during PEs that occurred during clinical experiences. Design: Multi-site, panel design. Setting: 12 professional athletic training programs (ATPs; 5 Bachelor, 7 Master's). Patients or Other Participants: 363 ATSs from the ATPs that used E*Value software to document PEs during clinical experiences participated in this study. Main Outcome Measures: During each PE, ATSs were asked to report if professional behaviors reflective of five of the CCs occurred (professionalism CC was excluded). Summary statistics, including means (SD), counts, and percentages were tabulated for the professional behaviors of each core competency. Results: Data from 30,630 PEs were entered during the study period. Professional behaviors related to EBP were the most frequently incorporated during PEs (74.3%, n=22773), followed by QI (72.3%, n=22147), PCC (56.6%, n=17326), HIT (35.4%, n=10,857), and IPECP (18.4%, n=5627). Conclusions: It is unsurprising that EBP and PCC behaviors were two of the most frequently incorporated CCs during PEs due to the emphasis of these competencies during the past several years. It is surprising that ATSs did not incorporate behaviors related to HIT in 65% of PEs, nor did they include behaviors related to IPECP in 82% of PEs. These findings suggest that directed efforts are needed to ensure ATSs are provided opportunities to incorporate professional behaviors related to the CCs during clinical experiences.