The athletic training major is designed to prepare students to successfully pass the BOC Certification exam and enter the field of athletic training as a certified athletic trainer. Students participate in a curriculum that combines classroom, laboratory and a progressive clinical education experience. This curriculum is designed for all the students to apply information learned in the classroom to hands-on situations involving real patients and athletes.
The Athletic Training Education Program is divided into six levels (semesters). Each level contains specific academic coursework, ACI evaluations, and an Athletic Training Practicum course. ACI evaluations occur twice during the semester (once at mid-term and again 1-2 weeks before finals). The Athletic Training Practicum courses are designed to provide the student with progressive observational and hands-on learning opportunities that correlate with the coursework for that semester. Check out the objectives for each level. Each Practicum course contains a set of NATA Educational competencies that must be completed before progressing to the next level. All of the requirements for one level must be met before progressing to the next level. Students who do not satisfactorily complete all of the level requirements will be required to repeat the deficient component and not progress to the next level. Since many of the level-specific courses are only offered during one semester each year, students repeating a level would be set back an entire year in the program. Completion of all six levels is required for graduation from the Athletic Training Education Program and the Program Director's endorsement on the BOC examination application. Download a list of the requirements for each level.
In order to graduate from the Athletic Training Education Program, students must take a specific set of courses. Each course is designed to provide knowledge and skills that can be directly applied to the athletic training profession. Some of these courses include: anatomy, physiology, nutrition, biomechanics, and exercise physiology, introductory and advanced athletic training, injury evaluation, physical rehabilitation, therapeutic modalities, athletic training administration, and six Practicum courses. Download a specialized four-year sequence (Adobe PDF format) to see the required coursework.
Clinical education represents the athletic training students' formal acquisition, practice, and ACI evaluation of the Entry-Level Athletic Training Clinical Proficiencies through classroom, laboratory, and clinical education experiences under the direct supervision of an ACI or a clinical instructor. Formal evaluations of the application and integration of clinical proficiencies are completed by an ACI and may be in conjunction with additional clinical instructors. Part of clinical education is field experience, in which students have the opportunity to practice clinical proficiencies under the supervision of a clinical instructor. These experiences take place before, during, and after practices and games of the various Truman State University sports’ teams. Each semester in the program, students enroll in a Practicum course which requires them to apply the skills learned in the classroom. The Athletic Training Practicum courses are designed to provide the student with observational and hands-on learning opportunities that correlate with the coursework for each semester. Each Practicum course contains a set of NATA Educational competencies that must be completed before progressing to the next level.