Why it’s important for athletic trainers to view their patients holistically.

Health care professionals sometimes look at their patients through a one-dimensional lens where they focus primarily on the patient’s physical symptoms. The patient is a “case.” But an effective treatment plan, especially when it comes to pain management, requires health care professionals, including athletic trainers, to understand a patient’s physical issues and their psychological and social needs. In other words, practitioners need to view the patient holistically as a “whole.” It was Aristotle who said, ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.’

Knowing what it is like to be in the patient’s shoes provides the health care practitioner with information from which they can develop the best treatment options tailored to the patient’s individual circumstances. This type of integrated approach serves as the foundation for the biopsychosocial health care model which recognizes that a person’s health is impacted by the interaction of a range of biological, psychological, and social factors. For an athletic trainer, this approach calls on them to listen to a patient who has sustained an injury so that they are better able to understand how the trauma and pain impact the individual’s quality of life on both a physical and emotional level. When describing their experiences, patients desire to be heard and respected. Instead of the athletic trainer making decisions on their behalf, patients want to partner with their practitioner in deciding on the best course of treatment. Marcie Fyock-Martin, associate professor in the Athletic Training Education program in the School of Kinesiology at George Mason University, recently discussed how important it is for athletic trainers as clinicians to provide patient centered care in helping individuals recover from an injury or trauma.

Patient-centered care involves a partnership between the athletic trainer and the patient in developing individualized treatment options for recovery.

Patient-centered care, sometimes referred to as person-centered care, is an integrated health care approach that focuses on the whole person and considers the individual’s needs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services describes this concept as one that is guided and informed by patients’ goals, preferences, and values and where patients are empowered to make effective treatment decisions in collaboration with their health care providers. This contrasts with an approach where the clinician alone makes the decision on treatment based on what they think is best.

Athletic trainers must address both the emotional and physical needs of the patient in recovery.

Under the patient-centered concept, the athletic trainer works to develop a comprehensive understanding of the patient that goes beyond the immediate symptom or physical injury at hand. They try to acquire a better sense of the patient’s lived experiences in the aftermath of an injury. An individual’s history including their perceptions of pain, how well they cope with it, how the discomfort they feel may be affecting their livelihood, past experiences they may have had with physical therapy, stressors they may be dealing with in their personal lives—all of these variables differ from one patient to the next and can significantly affect recovery. Patient-centered care requires that athletic trainers fill a role where they do more than address an individual’s physical issues. They must also tend to the patient’s emotional needs and serve as a guide on the journey to recovery.

Advocating on behalf of their patients is one of many roles that athletic trainers must fill.

Among their many roles, there are times when an athletic trainer must serve as an advocate for their patient. For example, there could be situations where an individual who is an integral member of a sports team has yet to fully recover from an injury, but they feel pressured by a coach or others to return to the game. Or a patient could experience similar pressures about returning to the workplace before they are ready. An athletic trainer can support their patient by educating coaches and others about the importance of following the prescribed treatment plan and explaining the possible negative consequences of ending treatment too soon. In advocating for their patients, the athletic trainer works to remove obstacles that would impede reaching full recovery.

Athletic trainers need to communicate with their patients.

Open communication between the athletic trainer and patient is key to effective patient-centered care and the achievement of good health outcomes. It is important that the athletic trainer refrain from using medical terminology and jargon. Instead, language should be used that is easily understood by the patient, so that they can be actively engaged in collaborating with the athletic trainer on treatment options. If language is a barrier because the patient and trainer do not speak the same language, an athletic trainer may need assistance in overcoming the language barrier.

To learn more about the Athletic Training Education program in the School of Kinesiology at George Mason University, please visit the program website.