High School Football Injury Rates and Services by Athletic Trainer Employment Status

CONTEXT: Reported injury rates and services in sports injury surveillance may be influenced by the employment setting of the certified athletic trainers (ATs) reporting these data. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether injury rates and the average number of AT services per injury in high school football varied by AT employment status. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: We used data from the National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network and surveyed ATs about their employment setting. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Forty-four responding ATs (37.9% of all National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network participants) worked at high schools with football programs and were included in this study. Fourteen ATs were full-time employees of the high school, and 30 ATs were employed as outreach ATs (i.e., full-time and part-time ATs from nearby clinics, hospitals, and graduate school programs). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): We calculated injury rates per 1000 athlete-exposures and average number of AT services per injury. RESULTS: Reported injury rates and services per injury were greater among full-time school employees compared with outreach ATs. However, injury rates did not differ when restricted to time-loss injuries only. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that ATs who are full-time school employees may be able to identify and care for more patients with injuries.