The NCAA News - News and Features

October 27, 1997

Sports Sciences Newletter -- Handbook serves as guide

By Randall W. Dick
NCAA ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF SPORTS SCIENCES

In September, the 1997-98 NCAA Sports Medicine Handbook was sent to athletics directors, senior woman administrators, athletic trainers, team physicians and student-athlete advisory committees at each member institution.

What is the purpose of this publication? Since its creation in 1975, the Handbook has been the primary educational tool for the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to assist schools in the development of safe and sound intercollegiate athletics programs. The recent adoption of the health and safety principle into the Association's Constitution reinforces this objective. It is the responsibility of each member institution to protect the health of and provide a safe environment for each of its participating student-athletes.

The Handbook provides guidance in how to achieve this principle. The committee has agreed that guideline topics should be considered only if the topic is relevant to collegiate athletics, of interest to a large population, and not addressed in another easily obtained source. The new lightning safety guideline, for example, was developed with assistance from the National Severe Storms Laboratory. This agency's expertise is not mainstream information to most collegiate athletics departments, yet the information could affect student-athletes and spectators on every NCAA campus.

Some have questioned whether the guidelines in the Handbook are actually setting a standard of care that may be difficult for institutions to meet. With assistance from Bill Arnet, competitive-safeguards chair and legal counsel for the University of Missouri, Columbia, I will try to address this concern.

Standard of care is associated with widely recognized and accepted national standards within a profession or related to a specific issue. Standards may be specifically stated or loosely composed of a variety of resources. Guidelines, on the other hand, are interpreted to guide one's professional behavior, not to mandate what one must do. They are recommendations. A guideline is one of perhaps many components to be considered that make up a standard of care.

The Handbook consists of guidelines, which are recommendations for institutions to consider as they develop their individual sports medicine policies. For example, the Handbook contains a guideline on concussions. At the end of the guideline, there are 15 references. These, as well as the guideline itself, are components of whatever standard there is on this issue.

In situations requiring medical expertise, the proper medical judgment, based on standards and training, should be exercised. It is expected that this judgment occasionally will override a Handbook recommendation since unique situations occur across our more than 900 member institutions. In the previous example, a decision to return the student-athlete to play may be made after consultation of the Handbook guideline or references but ultimately should be based on the clinical judgment (medical training/standard of care) of the team physician.

Please view the Handbook as a tool to help you develop your sports medicine administrative policies. These policies may be unique to your institution but they should reflect as a core, a commitment to student-athlete welfare and an awareness of the Handbook guidelines. It is a commitment that student-athletes need and deserve.