Colorado Certified Athletic Trainer Survey Results

The following survey was posted on the CATA web page for approximately six weeks in mid August 1999 till September 30th 1999.  All Colorado Certified Athletic Trainers  were asked to review the current practice act for certified athletic trainers and a legal interpretation on current athletic training legislation.  They were then invited to complete the survey and express their opinions regarding current and future athletic training legislation.  The results of the five questions were as follows....

(55 Valid surveys were received)

Prior to reading the information on this web site, were you aware of your legal practice status?

                Yes     36 (67%)

                No     18 (33%)

After reading this, do you have a better understanding of your current legal practice status?

            Yes     45 (83%)

            No     9 (17%)

Do you feel we are protected by our current exemption act?

            Yes     17 (31%)

            No     37 (69%)

Do you feel we would be better protected by licensure?

            Yes     44 (83%)

            No     9 (17%)

Do you think stronger efforts need to be made in providing this information to outside groups?

            Yes     52 (98%)

            No     1 (2%)

Some members also provided comments...

This issue must be completely researched and we must be very careful before taking major action in this area. ... Licensure is an area where I don't think we want to go.  We have a wonderfully broad scope of practice which licensure will severely limit.  Talk to licensed trainers in other states and find out how their scope of practice has changed since licensure.

I am reluctant to have legislation and licensure that  would cost me more than $100/year considering my salary at the the high school.

After moving to Colorado from a licensed state, it was interesting to see how much the benefits of licensing really do matter... Licensure in it's simplest form reassures the ATC's and the public that what is practiced is managed under a lawful act.   Licensure or no licensure, it is extremely important to provide the public and other professionals within the medical community with as much information about our profession as possible.

It would be helpful to me if I had a legal definition of licensure, explaining what it can and cannot do for me as a certified athletic trainer in the state of Colorado.

Please be careful how much time and money you put into this.  The state legislature is not of the mind to license more professionals... it is not just a one time effort, make your decision on fact and experience and not just emotion.

I feel that licensure would protect us better, but I think there are alternatives.  It seems that if we decide that licensure is the way to go it is like putting all of our eggs in one basket....  It would be interesting to see what licensure has done for those ATC's in other states that have become newly licensed.

We need to get licensure, it's only a matter of time before every state has it.   It protects us and gives us more credentials/credibility, and it will make sure only Certified Athletic Trainers are getting the jobs.

Ohio Athletic Trainer's Association is a good example of state licensure.

This is a definite step in the right direction.  The cost of licensure would be too expensive with the limited number of certified athletic trainers in Colorado at this time.

As health care providers, athletic trainers would like to be licensed and regulated as other professions are.  However, with this will come some unintended side-effects which some athletic trainers will not like... Licensure can be a good and bad thing.

I think a huge effort should be made to inform outside groups about certified athletic trainers.

I feel that some aspects of the exemption clause are extremely vague and leave athletic trainers in a risky situation.... I think that if we, as athletic trainers in the state of Colorado, continue to pursue licensure, we should have more specific guidelines for legal practice.

Please send all questions and comments to: Kelly Brick, ATC, Webmaster