The Technical Standards are designed to protect the health and well-being of all Athletic Training students and the patients/athletes with whom they work. All Athletic Training students are expected to have abilities in five categories:
Observation: Candidates must have sufficient sensory capacity to observe in the lecture setting, the laboratory, and the health care community setting. Sensory abilities must be adequate to perform the appropriate physical examination or assessment including functional vision, hearing, and tactile sensation to observe a patient's condition and to elicit information appropriate to the particular discipline.
Communication: Students must be able to communicate effectively and professionally in academic, community, and health care settings and be able to demonstrate proficiency in both verbal and written English.
Motor: Students must have the ability to participate in basic diagnostic and therapeutic maneuvers and procedures. Motor function must be adequate to fully execute movements required to provide patient care including dependent transfer of an individual. Students must be able to negotiate patient care environments required in their particular discipline and be able to move between settings such as the classroom, health care facility or community setting. Some physical tasks require the ability to transfer the equivalent of an adult's body weight. Physical stamina sufficient to compete the rigorous course of didactic and clinical study is required. Long periods of sitting, standing, or moving are required in a variety of learning sites.
Intellectual: Students must be able to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, and integrate information as well as be able to comprehend spatial relationships of structures.
Social: Students must exercise good judgment and be able to function, appropriately and effectively, in the face of uncertainties inherent in clinical practice and must maintain mature, sensitive and effective professional relationships with faculty, students, patients and other members of the health care team.
Meeting Professional Requirements
These abilities enable the student to perform tasks required to meet graduation and professional requirements as measured by state and national certification processes.
Reasonable accommodation will be considered for persons with documented disabilities on an individual basis; however, students must be able to perform in an independent manner.
Sophomore through Senior Year
These standards are expectations of all Athletic Training students enrolled in the sophomore year through senior years:
- All students will be expected to perform certain physical, mental, and emotional tasks in order to complete graduation and professional requirements as measured by state and national certification processes.
- Any student who feels he/she does not possess one or more of the enumerated skills should seek assistance for an academic or faculty advisor, and the Learning Skills Center, and must notify and work with the Office of Freshmen Development and Special Student Services. It is the student's responsibility to notify both the RSHS and his/her respective department of any accommodations which may be necessary.
- Any student who, after reasonable accommodations, cannot perform the essential skills may not be admitted or permitted to continue in their respective program.
This list of Technical Standards / Performance Indicators is an excerpt from the current edition of the RSHS Academic Student Handbook.