Developing Effective Concussion Education for Coaches, Parents, and Athletes - SOD

Course overview

Recent developments within the sports medicine field to promote athlete safety includes education provided to athletic coaches, parents, and athletes at various levels of competition regarding serious sports-related injuries. Although these injuries are often difficult to diagnose due to the hidden and subjective nature of signs and symptoms, head trauma can be extremely harmful and detrimental to the career of any athlete. With the serious nature of these sports-related injuries, an incidence reduction of these injuries may occur with appropriate education to athletic personnel as well as implementation of safeguards throughout the health care process of the athlete. Many state laws and federal mandates have been enacted requiring appropriate education to school and team officials prior to the start of each competitive season. The idea of evaluating the effectiveness of educating coaches and athletic staff members on serious sports injuries is necessary for the safe and efficient care of all athletes. As educational modules are continually being developed to comply with new laws, it will no longer be prudent to just provide these resources to these members. The disseminating group should be responsible for assuring that the information is comprehended by participants as well as practical to implement in a variety of sport settings. In this course, lecture format will be implemented to achieve the stated objectives. The instructor will provide an overarching review of the literature as it pertains to concussion education. The participants will compare best practices to currently implemented educational programs within their own clinical practice.