If you have decided to invest the time, effort, and money required in order to become a licensed athletic trainer, you know how difficult it can be to reach the point where you are in a position to take the licensing examination for your state. (49 states currently require athletic trainers to be licensed if they want to be able to call themselves “certified” or “licensed” athletic trainers.) Many colleges have four-year degrees that are focused on athletic training, and a required part of every course is a hands-on internship. During this internship, you apply what you've been learning and gain valuable practical experience under the supervision of more experienced licensed athletic trainers or other medical personnel.
In some cases, your athletic training internship may be your first exposure to a truly professional work environment. You need to be careful to make sure that you act in a professional manner because a misconduct claim filed against you during your internship can derail, if not completely end, your plans to become a licensed athletic trainer.
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team has put together this summary of some of the issues that students can expect to encounter if a misconduct allegation is made against them during an athletic trainer internship. If you have questions about your particular situation after reading this, contact the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team today to learn more about how we can help. We have been advising students involved in disciplinary matters all over the United States for years, and we can help you understand your situation and can help you protect your rights and your future.
The Athletic Trainer Internship Requirement
While the practical part of your athletic trainer education program may go by different names – internship, practicum, practice component – how it operates is basically the same no matter where you are training. For some period of time, you will work hands-on with athletes and other individuals involved in athletics at some level to help them reach their training and related physical goals. Your work will be supervised by a licensed trainer or other professional who can help make sure you apply the proper training principles to the people you are working with, taking into account their age, physical condition, and goals. Your work may involve helping diagnose and treat athletes' physical issues, such as injuries, as well as address their needs for nutrition and approved supplements.
You may find yourself working at a college or university, a high school, a therapy clinic, or a medical practice. Accordingly, you will most likely be in an actual real-world work environment, where you will be expected to act professionally. In addition, if you engage in misconduct, you can also expect to be disciplined as you would be if you were actually employed there.
What Kinds of Discipline Can Athletic Training Students Encounter?
Because your athletic training internship is usually part of your school curriculum, you can be exposed to a number of different types of discipline as a result of misconduct allegations made in connection with your internship. These include:
- School discipline. As a student participating in a school-sponsored internship, you may be disciplined by your school for internship-related misconduct. All schools have honor codes or similar student handbooks that describe the behavior that is expected of all students, on and off campus. They also describe prohibited behaviors, and typically set forth a process by which misconduct allegations are investigated and ruled on by the school. Your internship program may choose to report misconduct claims about you to your school, in addition to taking any action on their own against you. In that situation, your school will typically investigate the allegation and, where it's serious enough, may bring formal charges against you that could be resolved through a hearing process. Because the consequences can be serious if you're found to have committed misconduct – up to and including expulsion – it's important to take misconduct allegations seriously as soon as you learn about them. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can help you in these situations; they have represented students across the country who have been accused of misconduct by their schools, and they understand the rules, the processes, and how to vigorously and effectively make sure that their clients have as strong a defense as possible.
- Employer discipline. As an intern, you may or may not be a paid employee of whoever you are interning with. No matter what the case, you will be expected to act in a professional manner and to follow the employee guidelines established by the school, clinic, or organization you are interning with. If you fail to do so, you can expect to be treated as any employee who fails to follow company guidelines is treated – which can include being dismissed from your internship.
- Certification organization discipline. If you are a student member of a standards-setting or certification organization such as the National Athletic Trainers' Association, you are bound by the organization's practice standards and code of professional responsibility. If a misconduct allegation is filed against you with the organization, you may also be disciplined by the organization following an investigation into the matter and, in most cases, a hearing.
What Kinds of Conduct Can Result in Discipline?
While there are many types of misconduct that can result in disciplinary actions, some of the more usual ones are as follows:
- Substance use or abuse. If you are suspected of being under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, or any other prescription or non-prescription drug while working at your internship, you can face serious disciplinary consequences. Because athletic training is very often a hands-on profession, where you are working one-on-one with athletes or patients, doing so while you are under the influence of any substance that reduces your ability to think properly and apply your knowledge to your job can result in a misconduct allegation that could end up with you losing your internship as well as being disciplined by your school.
- Sexual misconduct. This can include claims of sexual assault, but it can also include claims that you've sexually harassed a co-worker or a patient. Because of the hands-on nature of much of the work that a trainer does, it's especially important to make sure that you don't do anything that can be construed as an attempt to improperly touch someone you are treating. This is where working closely with a certified trainer who can guide your work can be very helpful.
- Fraud. If you are in a situation where insurance companies are paying for some or all of the treatment that you are providing to a patient or an athlete, you can be accused of fraud if you improperly describe the work you've done. This can be a real problem even if you've mistakenly described a procedure incorrectly, where that description means the insurance company will pay more than it would have if you'd described the procedure correctly.
- Patient abuse. As a hands-on profession, you may sometimes find yourself pushing your athlete or patient to their limits. Knowing where that limit is is important; if you go beyond it, you may be accused of abusing the patient. Again, working closely with your supervisor can help make sure this doesn't happen.
How Are Misconduct Allegations Resolved?
While each organization has its own way of resolving misconduct allegations, some of the steps that you may typically encounter include:
- Initial investigation of the misconduct allegation. This is to make sure it's the kind of allegation that the organization will regulate. A complaint that a patient had to wait a long time for their appointment, for example, might not move forward to the next stage where that patient wasn't harmed as a result.
- Detailed investigation of the misconduct allegation. This can include interviews with you, your co-workers and supervisors, and the person filing the complaint. The investigator may also examine company records, including your company emails and any treatment records that relate to the misconduct allegation.
- An offer to resolve the matter. This sometimes happens because it's a more efficient way to handle misconduct disputes. The organization will come to you with a set of facts that it wants you to agree to, and in return, will tell you what the punishment or consequences will be. This is where having the advice of the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can be a real help.
- A hearing. Where the matter doesn't end with you accepting an offer to resolve the matter (or where one isn't made), you will generally be notified of the formal charges against you, and a hearing on those charges will be held. At that hearing, you and the organization will be able to present evidence, including witnesses, for your respective sides of the case. Here too, having the help of the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can be a great help – they have years of experience with hearings of this type, and understand how to make sure your rights are respected while providing a strong defense to the claims against you.
- A decision and, possibly, an appeal. The hearing body will issue a decision on the misconduct allegations after the hearing is over. If it goes against you, you may have a chance to appeal.
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team Can Help
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team has years of experience helping students all over the US – including those involved in a student internship –resolve misconduct allegations filed against them. We understand how these claims arise, and we know how to effectively investigate them for our clients, negotiate with whoever is bringing the disciplinary proceeding, and, where necessary, effectively and vigorously defend our clients during a hearing.
Your career is too important for you to try to defend yourself if misconduct claims are filed against you. Call the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team today at 888.535.3686, or use our online contact form to set up a confidential consultation. Don't face serious misconduct allegations alone! We are here to listen and to help!
