Quality Improvement and Patient Safety
Quality improvement is the consistent, combined effort of many to make changes in healthcare that will improve patient outcomes, system performance, and professional development. This course is designed to enhance the athletic trainer's understanding of quality improvement, especially as it relates to patient outcomes (health), system performance (care), and professional development (learning). An overview of the history of quality improvement in healthcare will be provided to provide a global understanding of the value of quality improvement to the advancement of patient care.

Additionally, the Model of Improvement will serves as the theoretical foundation for the course. Topics will include creating and managing interprofessional teams, identifying quality improvement issues, process literacy, data collection for continuous improvement, and implementing system changes. During the course, students will also be introduced to common tools used in quality improvement projects, such as process diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, run charts, and plan-do-study-act cycles. Achievement of course learning objectives will occur through readings, multi-media presentations, discussions, presentations, and individual and/or group assignments.

Evidence-Based Practice
This course is designed to enable the athletic trainer's clinical decision-making process in a manner that integrates clinical experience, patient values, and the best available evidence. It is also intended to build on entry-level evidence-based practice courses with the use of informatics and technology to access the medical literature. The course will cover advanced topics related to the EBP process, framing clinical questions to enhance clinical decision-making, searching the literature, critical appraisal, integration and evaluation of the evidence, grading levels of evidence and strength of recommendations, patient values, and statistical terminology related to EBP. ​

Patient-Oriented Outcomes
​Advanced Patient-Oriented Outcomes is designed to enhance the athletic trainer's ability to employ clinician-based and patient-based clinical outcome measures for the determination of effective clinical decision-making through the practice of providing patient-centered whole person healthcare. Discussion of disablement models and outcomes research as the foundations to evidence-based practice will be provided. The use of disablement models as a framework for whole person healthcare and the evaluation of health-related quality of life will be presented.

This course builds upon the basic components of clinical outcomes assessment by providing advanced content related to clinician- and patient-oriented outcomes. Instruction on the selection, implementation, and use of single- and multi-item, general and specific patient-rated outcomes instruments will be given. Details regarding the concepts of measurement properties, including assessment of measurement change, will be provided. Opportunity to develop an outcomes study through creation of a clinical question in PICO format will be provided and discussion of using practice-based research networks as means to conducting outcomes investigations will occur.

Health Information Technology
The purpose of this course is to provide the athletic trainer with a survey of relevant concepts, tools, and systems of healthcare informatics and technology that may be useful throughout the clinical decision-making process. An understanding of informatics concepts and skills related to the use of technology has been identified as critical for all modern healthcare professionals. Moreover, informatics and technology provide several distinct advantages to the modern healthcare system, including, but limited to: cost savings; error detection; quality improvement, and; improved patient outcomes.

Winter Institute – Innovation to Advance Athletic Health Care
The four-day intensive Winter Institute is focused on Innovation to Advance Athletic Health Care. The thread of innovation is woven throughout the course with particular emphasis on innovation to advance higher education, innovation to advance patient care, and innovation to advance research.

This course is designed to promote in-depth interaction between students and faculty to facilitate the development of action plans for leading innovation in athletic health care education, patient care, and research. Students will prepare a project proposal specific to their work environment to help them develop the knowledge and skills for leading innovations within their own health care facilities and institutions.

The Institute faculty consists of leading innovators in athletic health care from across the country that students will have the opportunity to learn with and from. Each faculty member will lead educational sessions in their respective area(s) of expertise and will serve as small group facilitators. Students will be mixed throughout the week into three distinct small groups that meet daily, each facilitated by an internal (ATSU) and external faculty member, to maximize opportunities for extensive interactions with peers and faculty.

Study sections will be used at the beginning of each day to stimulate critical thinking and promote dialogue around the theme of the day. Project groups will meet daily to help students develop their innovative projects for leading and managing environmental change. Reflection groups will meet at the end of each day to discuss the days key points, where students experienced their greatest knowledge gains, how the information can be translated into their work setting, and what new questions may have emerged.

An extensive course-reading list will be provided in advance of the face-to-face meeting and students will be required to read all course material prior to the educational sessions. In addition to the project proposal, readings, and attending the face-to-face sessions, students will be expected to complete a post-Institute assessment.

Research Methods & Design
This course will focus on the development and application of graduate level knowledge and skills related to research methods in health sciences. Skills regarding the development of a research proposal, including the identification of a problem, conducting a literature review, developing a hypothesis, designing a study and submitting an Institutional Review Board application are integral components of this course. ​

Methods of Data Analysis
This course will focus on development and application of graduate level knowledge and skills related to the use of statistical methodology in health sciences research.​

Practice-Based Research
This course aims to improve the athletic trainer’s understanding of and, ability to conduct, practice-based research. Practice-based research represents the last step of the transnational research continuum and is vital to the translation of evidence into routine clinical practice. In brief, practice-based research is conducted by clinicians at the point-of-care, with real patients, and during the usual course of patient care. To meet its purpose, this course will cover fundamental concepts related to practice-based research including but not limited to the clinician-scientist model, researcher-clinician partnerships, common study designs and statistical approaches, implementation and dissemination of evidence, and practice-based research networks.

Athletic Injury Epidemiology
Athletic Injury Epidemiology is designed to enhance the athletic trainer’s clinical decision-making process by providing an understanding of the injury patterns associated with a variety of athletic sports. Emphasis will be placed on understanding and applying introductory principles of epidemiology, including the concepts of rates (eg, rate ratios and rate differences), incidence, proportions, odds ratios and relative risks. Students will gain experience calculating epidemiology values through class examples and exposure to national databases. Discussion of epidemiology study design (eg, cohort vs. case-control) will also be included. Evaluations of the injuries with the highest incidence and their associated risk factors will be discussed.

Qualitative Research Methodology
​This course is designed to introduce the athletic trainer to the methods of qualitative research. As athletic training continues to identify ways to enhance the care provided to various populations, it is essential to integrate patients' perspectives and preferences during the decision-making process. To effectively do so, it is important to have an understanding of the various strategies to gather this information. This course will cover the basics of qualitative research, methods to collect and analyze qualitative data, and strategies to incorporate qualitative data.

Analyzing the Problem
This course is the first in a series of four courses designed to assist you with the development of an applied research project (ARP) through the stages of reviewing the literature to project dissemination. Understanding the past and current literature around your desired research topic area is crucial to the development of a sound research project. Therefore, the purpose of this course is to provide you with the knowledge and skills to successfully review the literature around your chosen ARP topic and write a focused review of literature, which will serve as a foundational paper for your ARP. ​

Proposing a Solution
This course is the second in a series of four courses designed to assist you with the development of an applied research project (ARP) through the stages of reviewing the literature to project dissemination. The purpose of this course is to provide you with the knowledge and skills to develop and present the proposal for your required ARP. The proposal is crucial for the success of your ARP, as it describes in detail the research questions, hypotheses, and methodological details of your study.

During this course you will work closely with your ARP advisor to ensure your ARP proposal is methodologically sound and feasible. By the end of this course, you will have completed your ARP proposal and will present your project to your ARP advisor and submit your application to the IRB.

Implementing and Evaluating the Solution
This course is the fourth in a series of four courses designed to assist you with the development of an applied research project (ARP) through the stages of reviewing the literature to project dissemination. The purpose of this course is to provide you with the knowledge and skills to continue to finalize your data collection forms and sampling methodology and to successfully complete your data collection as well as properly manage your data.

Additionally, this course will help you to develop and implement an analysis plan for your ARP, based on previous methodological and statistical courses, and write the bulk of your results section so that you will be ready to complete your manuscript and prepare it for dissemination in the next course.​

Completing and Disseminating the Project
​This course is the fourth and final course in a series of four courses designed to assist you with the development of an Applied Research Project (ARP) through the stages of reviewing the literature to project dissemination. The purpose of this course is to provide the knowledge and skills needed to successfully complete your ARP manuscript, and to identify possible strategies for the dissemination your research findings through means, such as poster and oral presentations or manuscript submission.