The masters program in advanced athletic training (AT) is designed to offer advanced studies and clinical experiences in athletic training to BOC certified athletic trainers, while also providing health care to student-athletes and physical active populations in the state of South Carolina.

The USC AT Program provides students with the theoretical knowledge and understanding of the allied health profession of athletic training as well as current procedures and techniques in sport injury management. Students gain this knowledge through required coursework and clinical experiences as they prepare to make successful contributions to the athletic training profession. The program combines formal classroom instruction and clinical experiences to enhance a certified athletic trainer’s clinical skills.

Learning Outcomes

• Patient Centered Care: Students demonstrate the ability to serve as an advocate for a patient’s best interest, to educate the patient about health-related concerns and intervention options, to recognize any conflicts of interests that could adversely affect the patient’s health, and to facilitate collaboration among the patient, physician, family and other members of the patient’s social network or healthcare system to develop an effective treatment plan that includes agreed-upon implementation steps, short-term goals and long-term goals.
• Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice: Students demonstrate the ability to interact with other health professionals in a manner that optimizes the quality of care provided to individual patients.
• Evidence-Based Practice: Students demonstrate the ability to integrate the best available research evidence with clinical expertise and consideration of patient values and circumstances to optimize patient outcomes. Students will demonstrate an overall mastery of concepts related to their respective area of research; and display the ability to extend this understanding to relevancy and clinical application.
• Quality Improvement & Overall Professionalism: Students demonstrate the ability to identify a quality improvement objective, specify changes that are expected to produce an improvement, and quantitatively confirm that an improvement resulted from implementation of the change (e.g., improved patient outcomes from administration of a specific intervention or utilization of a specific protocol). Students demonstrate an ability to adhere to the NATA Code of Ethics and the Board of Certification Standards of Practice and exhibit professionalism in all aspects of clinical practice and personal conduct.

Admission

In addition to The Graduate School’s application requirements, applicants must submit a sample of expository writing to include future goals and specific research interests.

Degree Requirements (33-36 Hours)