Masters in Athletic Training
Program Description
The Athletic Training (AT) program is based on a solid liberal arts and science foundation designed to foster the development of human values, effective interpersonal skills and a scientific foundation for the major area of study. Consistent with the goals and objectives of liberal arts and science tradition, the program functions both didactically and clinically.
The goal of the didactic and clinical components is to provide students with a well-rounded base of knowledge relative to the profession of athletic training. Concurrently, the program fosters the student’s ability to critically think, analyze information, and communicate both verbally and in written format in an intelligent and effective manner. The program’s clinical experience also enables students to develop interpersonal skills, and provides opportunities to shape and develop associated moral and ethical behaviors. Additionally, the Athletic Training program seeks to develop knowledge and clinical skills needed to prepare for professional and personal development.
Program Goals & Objectives
The MS in Athletic Training program will prepare graduates to:
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Demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships of the various components of athletic training as they relate to a comprehensive wellness team
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Exhibit appropriate proficiency in oral and written communication
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Demonstrate an ability to critically analyze published research
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Design, conduct, and report scholarly activity
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Demonstrate critical thinking skills and formulate appropriate clinical decisions
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Demonstrate mastery of the educational competencies
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Effectively and respectfully provide patient care for people of diverse cultural backgrounds
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Demonstrate safe and effective clinical decision-making in athletic training practice in a manner that integrates quality improvement, evidence-based practice, and patient-oriented outcomes.
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Contribute to the profession through the development and participation in new ideas and insights.
Accreditation
The MSAT is accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Athletic Training Education. In 2017, the program earned 10 years of re-accreditation status. Current Board of Certification exam pass rates for SHU AT graduates can be found on the SHU MSAT website.
Admission Requirements for SHU Undergraduates
Submit your online application
Official transcripts from all institutions attended: Official transcripts from any previous institutions attended must be sent to the Office of Graduate Admissions (even if they have already been submitted to the University Registrar for transfer credit). Sacred Heart University students may authorize the Office of Graduate Admissions to obtain their official SHU transcripts on their behalf.
Documentation of a minimum of 10-15 hours of observation under direct supervision of a Certified Athletic Trainer.
Athletic Training students are required to meet SHU's physical and technical standards, as outlined in the technical standards document to successfully complete all program requirements. Review the technical standards document and sign and return it to the Office of Graduate Admissions. This acknowledges that you have reviewed and understand the technical standards of the athletic training profession.
A 1-2 page essay stating your interest in the field of athletic training as demonstrated by your motivation for becoming a certified athletic trainer and your professional goals upon completion of the program.
Admission Requirements for External Applicants
- Submit your online application via ATCAS portal
- Official transcripts from all institutions attended
- Documentation of a minimum of 10-15 hours of observation under direct supervision of a Certified Athletic Trainer.
Athletic Training students are required to successfully complete all program requirements. Review the University's technical standards document and sign and submit it via ATCAS. This acknowledges that you have reviewed and understand the technical standards of the athletic training profession.
A 1-2 page essay stating your interest in the field of athletic training as demonstrated by your motivation for becoming a certified athletic trainer and your professional goals upon completion of the program.
Program Prerequisites Admissions requirements for the MSAT program include:
Bachelor’s degree
Undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.0
Complete all pre-requisite courses (36 credits) below with a grade of “C” or better
CastleBranch
Upon acceptance to the MSAT, students will need to complete the following through CastleBranch at their own expense:
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Background Check
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Physical: Completed by a MD, DO, APRN, PA in the past 12 months. Our forms must be completed, signed, and uploaded into CastleBranch (forms found on the SHU MSAT website).CPR: Front and back of signed CPR cards/certificates through American Red Cross or American Heart Association. Certification must be: Basic Life Support.
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Vaccines: Vaccine and titer information must be provided via lab reports. It is HIGHLY recommended students have titers drawn during the Spring semester they are applying to the program, because if they are no longer immune a booster shot will be given, and a new titer will be drawn 30-90 days later. Proof of immunization is necessary for:
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Varicella
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Measles
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Mumps
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Rubella
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PPD
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Tetanus
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Hepatitis B: Students can demonstrate current immunization to Hepatitis B via current titer information. If Hepatitis B does not show immunity then immunization is required. Individuals who do not wish to be immunized must sign a declination form
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Student will be responsible for all fees associated with:
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Receiving a physical
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Receiving immunizations, titers, and boosters
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Background check
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CPR/AED certification
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Registering with CastleBranch
Retaining status within the MSAT Program:
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To retain acceptance status in the program, students must meet and maintain the following criteria as they move through the MSAT program:
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Maintain a minimum of 3.0 GPA each semester
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Complete the 50 credits of core AT coursework
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Earn a minimum of a “C” in each AT course
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Students who do not meet a “C” requirement in a course will not be allowed to matriculate.
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Maintain CastleBranch criteria
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CPR/AED certification
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Immunizations
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Clinical Education
During the second fall semester of year 2, students will be responsible for completing an immersive clinical rotation. Students will be assigned to a clinical site where their full-time responsibility (i.e. 40 hours/week) will be their clinical rotation. These immersive clinical rotations will be no shorter than 4 weeks in length.
Beginning the first fall semester, students enroll in four sequential graded practicums for which they receive credit. These four practicum courses are didactic and clinical in nature and utilize an informal problem-based approach. Each practicum is designed to foster critical thinking and allows an opportunity for students to practice the clinical skills they have been taught previously in the classroom. Small self-directed student groups are posed problem-based situations or cases requiring identification of pertinent strategies and clinical decisions to address the problem or case. The learning goals and new information discovered by the group during directed investigation of the problem is researched by individuals of the group and then examined and processed by the entire group before presentation, discussion, and evaluation. Facilitators (tutors) provide feedback to students regarding their decisions and guide students toward understanding the interconnections between their actions and the implications of their actions in the clinical environment.
Clinical education provides students the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge with clinical experience. All clinical experiences, traditional and non-traditional, are under the direct supervision of certified athletic trainers or other healthcare providers. Students are exposed to a variety of settings including public, private, and preparatory high schools, a variety of colleges and clinical rotations including physicians’ offices and rehabilitation facilities. In addition, the clinical education program requires students to amass a minimum number of clinical hours per semester, as outlined in the syllabi of each practicum course. All students are required to maintain current CPR for Basic Life Support, annual PPD verification, and blood-borne pathogen training (or its equivalent) throughout the clinical experience. Students will not be able to participate in the clinical experience without current certification. Students are responsible for providing transportation to off-campus sites.
Technical Standards
Athletic Training students are required to meet physical and behavioral technical standards to successfully complete all program requirements.
Athletic training is an intellectually, physically, and psychologically demanding profession. In addition to those described below, the abilities that an athletic trainer must have to practice safely are those described in the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education’s educational competencies and in the Board of Certification role delineation study (on file in the Program Director’s office). Candidates for the degree must be able to meet these minimum standards for successful completion of degree requirements.
Standards
Observation: Observation requires the functional use of vision, hearing and somatic sensations. A student must be able to attend lectures and laboratory demonstrations. The student must be able to observe a patient accurately to determine variations from normal and observe output readings to determine a patient’s condition and the status of a treatment. Examples in which these observational skills are required include: palpation of anatomical structures and visual and tactile assessment for the presence and degree of edema.
Communication: Communication includes speech, language, reading, writing and computer literacy. Students must be able to communicate effectively and sensitively with patients to elicit information regarding mood, activities and health complaints, as well as perceive non-verbal communications. Students must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently with other members of the health care and athletic communities to convey information essential for safe and effective care.
Sensory and Motor Function: Students must have sufficient motor function to elicit information from the patient examination, using palpation, muscle strength assessment, joint range of motion measurement and other evaluative maneuvers. Additionally, the student must have sufficient motor function to be the first responder in a potentially catastrophic injury (e.g., in-line stabilization of cervical spine, rescue breathing, obstructed airway management, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation). Students must also be able to execute movements required to provide therapeutic care, such as performing mobilization and wound care techniques. These skills require coordination of both gross and fine muscular movement, equilibrium, and the integrated use of touch and vision. Specific motor function requirements include safely lifting up to 50 lbs independently, safely lifting up to 200 lbs with assistance, and safely being able to push and pull up to 200 lbs.
Intellectual abilities: To effectively solve problems, students must be able to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, integrate and synthesize information in a timely fashion. For example, the student must be able to synthesize knowledge and integrate the relevant aspects of a patient’s history and examination findings to develop an effective treatment program. In addition, students must be able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and to understand spatial relationships of structures.
Behavioral and Social Attributes: Students must possess the psychological ability required for the full use of their intellectual abilities, for the exercise of good judgment, for the prompt completion of all responsibilities inherent to assessment and care of patients, and for the development of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with patients. Students must be able to tolerate physically and mentally taxing workloads and function effectively under stress. They must be able to adapt to a changing environment, and function in the face of uncertainties inherent in the clinical problems of patients. Students must demonstrate ethical behavior, both in the classroom and during their clinical experience.
Disabilities and Accommodations
Students who wish to identify themselves as having a disability that requires special accommodations to complete program requirements must notify the Director of the Athletic Training Program. Individuals with disabilities (as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act) may be qualified for Athletic Training studies with the use of reasonable accommodations. A student requesting accommodations will be required to provide documentation in the form of testing and/or medical opinions. If a student feels that he/she requires reasonable accommodation for didactic and/or clinical components of the program, he/she must contact Jandrisevits Learning Center located in the Student Success Center (JLC’s Main Office: 203-371-7820) with required documentation before any accommodations can be made. After reviewing that documentation the university may require him/her to submit to our own testing and/or medical evaluations. To be qualified for Athletic Training studies in the Athletic Training Education Program (ATEP), students must be able to meet both our academic standards and essential functions, with or without reasonable accommodation. Accommodation is viewed as a means of assisting students with disabilities to meet essential standards by providing them with an equal opportunity to participate in all aspects of each course or clinical experience. (Reasonable accommodation is not intended to guarantee that students will be successful in meeting the requirements of any one course or clinical education.)
Qualified students with documented disabilities, who are provided with reasonable accommodations, may use an intermediary or an auxiliary aid. Such reasonable accommodations should be designed to help the student meet learning outcomes without eliminating essential program elements or fundamentally altering the ATEP curriculum. No disability can be reasonably accommodated with an intermediary that provides cognitive support or substitutes for essential clinical skills, or supplements clinical and ethical judgment. Thus, accommodations cannot eliminate essential program elements or fundamentally alter the ATEP curriculum.
Differential Tuition
Sacred Heart University has implemented a differential tuition for the Athletic Training program. The cost of athletic training education is increased relative to other majors due to intensive clinical laboratory courses and clinical supervision required to maintain the professional standards of athletic training education in addition to the associated expenses of clinical education. This charge will be reflected as a program fee each semester in addition to graduate tuition and fees. The fee will be initiated for Athletic Training students starting their first semester.
State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements
Sacred Heart University has been approved by Connecticut to participate in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements. NC-SARA is a voluntary, regional approach to state oversight of postsecondary distance education.
For information regarding professional licensure by state, visit Disclosures and Student Complaints.