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EDITORIAL 

 

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Copyright © by Indiana State University                                                                                Clinical Practice in Athletic Training  
All rights reserved. ISSN Online 2577-8188                                                                         Volume 1 – Issue 2 – October 2018 
 

It’s Time for Intraprofessional Practice 
Kenneth E Games, PhD, LAT, ATC  
Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN 
 

 
Key Phrases 
Collaborative practice, BOC standards of practice, change  
 
Correspondence 
Dr. Kenneth Games, Indiana State University, 567 N. 5th 
Street, Terre Haute, IN 47809. 
E-mail: kenneth.games@indstate.edu  
Twitter: @GamesKenneth 
 
Full Citation 
Games KE. It’s Time for Intraprofessional Practice. Clin Pract 
Athl Train. 2018;1(2): 1-3. 
https://doi.org/10.31622/2018/0002.1  
 
Submitted: October 27, 2018 Accepted: October 30, 2018 
 
EDITORIAL 

By now we have all heard about 

interprofessional and collaborative practice 
(IPCP), also called interprofessional practice (IPP) 
or interprofessional education (IPE). What about 
intraprofessional practice? When was the last time 
that you effectively practiced in a team-based 
setting with other athletic trainers? I am not just 
talking about sharing patients. I am talking about 
deliberately and intentionally co-facilitating 
patient care using each individual athletic trainer’s 
strengths to create a “super provider” capable of 
delivering the best patient care possible to the 
populations we treat. Are you pausing…thinking 
this seems impossible? It is already being done in 
other healthcare professions. Nursing has been 
engaging in intraprofessional practice for years 
and currently has multiple iterations of best 
practice guidelines for intraprofessional 
collaborative practice.1 Through a framework to 
create a collaborative workplace, nursing has 
effectively created a system that maximizes 
health and wellness for nursing and delivers the 
best possible outcomes for patients.1 I see a future 
where we, as athletic trainers, fundamentally shift 
our practice models to create environments of 
intraprofessional collaboration, and that future is 
closer than you think!   
 

 
 
I know what you may be thinking…“This will never 
work” or “Athletic training is different” or even “It 
may work in some settings, but not all.” If these 
are your initial reactions, you aren’t alone. This 
radical shift requires new ways of thinking and 
framing our work in ways we have rarely done in 
the past.  Intraprofessional practice can work in 
any setting. To demonstrate this, imagine with me 
as I describe an alternative reality than that which 
currently exists in most secondary school settings. 
Imagine a world where athletic trainers from 
“rival” high schools provided care to patients at 
both schools collaboratively based on each 
athletic trainer’s specialty areas. The athletic 
trainer from high school A is a specialist in 
orthopedics, while the athletic trainer from high 
school B is a specialist in neurotrauma, and both 
residency trained in their respective areas. A 
patient from high school A comes into the athletic 
training facility reporting the signs and symptoms 
of a concussion. After appropriate evaluation and 
diagnosis of a concussion, the athletic trainer from 
high school A determines that intraprofessional 
referral is necessary and refers the patient to the 
athletic trainer at high school B for treatment and 
rehabilitation from the concussion. Both athletic 
trainers keep the patient at the center of the care 
team and keep their egos out of the health, safety, 
and wellness of patients. They seamlessly 
exchange documentation in accordance with 
Federal regulations and together, return the 
patient to activity with better short, medium, and 
life-long outcomes. This could be as simple as 
practitioner to practitioner consultation, as 
traditional as the patient receiving care at the 
rival high school, or as advanced as telemedicine 
to reduce the burden on the patient and provider. 
 
Try to hold off on that instinct…“Well, that’s not 
MY team!” Remember that the BOC Standards of 

https://doi.org/10.31622/2018/0002.1


It’s Time for Intraprofessional Practice 

 

 
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Copyright © Indiana State University   Clinical Practice in Athletic Training 
ISSN Online 2577-8188    Volume 1- Issue 2 – October 2018 
 

Professional Practice indicate that the athletic 
trainer “takes no action that leads to or may lead 
to improper influence of the outcome or score of 
an athletic contest or event” (Code of Professional 
Responsibility, Professional Responsibility 3.10).2 
The Standards also state that the athletic trainer 
“practices in collaboration and cooperation with 
others involved in a patient’s care when 
warranted; respecting the expertise and medico-
legal responsibility of all parties” (Code of 
Professional Responsibility, Professional 
Responsibility 3.3).2 Just consider…this is possible 
now! 
 
Are there some structural barriers we must 
overcome? Yes. Are their going to be unexpected 
setbacks? Absolutely. But we must start to shift our 
mindset to be ready to take advantage of 
opportunities for change when they come. Too 
often, and by too often I mean almost always, the 
biggest barrier to substantial change and 
progress in anything (including athletic training) is 
ourselves. We can no longer believe that we are 
healthcare providers within the sport and physical 
activity industry. We are healthcare providers in 
the healthcare industry providing services to the 
sport and physical activity industry. This 
foundational shift in mindset is the first step in 
opening up a world where intraprofessional 
collaborative practice becomes the norm, not the 
exception. 
 
The benefits of intraprofessional practice may 
include the benefits we see with team-based care 
across healthcare such as improved communication 
and partnerships among providers and 
patients;3,4 better response processes in 
addressing the determinants of health;4 improved 
coordination of care;3 high levels of satisfaction 
on healthcare delivery;3,5 and the effective use of 
resources.6 There could even be more benefits of 
effective intraprofessional practice in athletic 
training than we can imagine, due to our unique 
role in the healthcare industry, but we must take 
the first step in this change. 

 
I’m asking each and every athletic trainer to take 
a moment and imagine a future of 
intraprofessional practice in their individual 
setting. What opportunities do you see? What 
challenges can you expect? What beliefs that you 
have about athletic training and your role in 
healthcare are limiting you AND your patients? 
What will you do to overcome those limiting 
beliefs? The responsibility is on us. To change the 
industry we serve, we must change our practice, 
and before we change our practice, we must shift 
our mindset. Let’s shift our mindset and start 
imagining and have conversations about 
intraprofessional practice in athletic training 
today. 
 
REFERENCES: 
 
1. Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario 

(RNAO). Intra-professional collaborative 
practice among nurses: Second edition. 
Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. 
Toronto, Ontario. 2016. 

2. Board of Certification (BOC). BOC standards 
of professional practice: Version 3.1. Board 
of Certification, Inc. 2017. 

3. Kates N, Ackerman S, eds. Shared mental 
healthcare in Canada: A compendium of 
current projects. Ottawa: Canadian 
Psychiatric Association; and Mississauga: 
College of Family Physicians of Canada 
Collaborative Working Group on Shared 
Mental Health. 2002. 

4. Nolte J. Enhancing interdisciplinary 
collaboration in primary healthcare in 
Canada. Ottawa: Enhancing Interdisciplinary 
Collaboration in Primary Health Initiative. 
2005. 

5. Marriott A, Marble J. Sharing the learning: 
The health transition fund synthesis series: 
Primary healthcare. Ottawa: Health Canada. 
2002. 

6. Task Force Two. A physician human resource 
strategy for Canada: Innovation service 



It’s Time for Intraprofessional Practice 

 

 
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Copyright © Indiana State University   Clinical Practice in Athletic Training 
ISSN Online 2577-8188    Volume 1- Issue 2 – October 2018 
 

models in Canada database. Ottawa: 
Government of Canada. 2005. 

 
 

 


