Objective: Improving the role understanding between essential emergency healthcare providers may improve teamwork and efficacy. This study asked licensed athletic trainers (ATs) and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) or paramedics for their opinions of the others' understanding of essential tasks in an emergent football injury situation. The hypothesis was that groups would have differing opinions.
Methods: An electronic survey was emailed to 160 licensed EMTs or paramedics and 45 licensed ATs. All participants were full-time employees with ≥1 year experience at their current position. In addition to demographic questions (age, sex, experience), respondents completed 11, 5-point Likert-scale type questions (end range: "strongly agree" or "strongly disagree") regarding their opinion of the other profession's understanding of essential tasks in an emergent football injury situation. Participants also answered questions about the amount of control of the injury situation they assumed upon scene arrival and how frequently they partnered with the other profession when covering a game. An α level of P ≤ 0.05 was selected to indicate statistical significance.
Results: Thirty-four EMTs or paramedics (21% return) and 12 ATs (26.7% return) responded. Group demographics did not differ with the exception of the EMT or paramedic group having more men (P = 0.006). Emergency medical technicians/paramedics perceived that ATs better understood facemask removal timing (P = 0.002), facemask removal technique (P = 0.04), and extremity splinting (P = 0.02). Athletic trainers perceived that EMTs/paramedics better understood proper airway management (P < 0.001) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (P < 0.001). EMT/paramedics more strongly perceived control of the injury situation upon scene arrival than ATs (P = 0.005). As AT experience increased, they more strongly agreed that they frequently partnered with EMTs/paramedics (r = 0.84, P < 0.001); however, an insignificant relationship was observed for EMTs/paramedics.
Conclusions: Opinions differed about the other profession's understanding of essential tasks. More experienced ATs partnered more strongly with EMTs/paramedics. Both professional groups would benefit from collaborative workshops or seminars to improve the teamwork needed to optimize an emergent football injury situation. The development and implementation of practices such as these may also improve teamwork and patient-center healthcare at mass participant sporting events such as marathons, triathlons, and road cycling events.
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