Documentation: Paper vs Tech

Long Days, Longer Nights

Small college, small problems - right? Not always, especially for an athletic trainer operating by themselves with little to no supporting staff and hundreds of athletes to care for and manage documentation.

Imagine this - it’s 9pm and you finally have time to sit at your desk to document the day after an all day soccer tournament. But first, you connect your AirPods to your iPhone that’s sitting next to your MacBook and you reel through notes trying to recall details of each and every evaluation. You dread this ancient process, knowing it will take hours to log a dozen injuries. You begin to cancel plans that you had with family and friends for later on. You send that text and get a response immediately and wish documenting injuries were just as simple.

Shouldn’t your record keeping join the 21st century, as well? Take a look at the pile of papers you have stacked high on each side of your desk; or the sign-in sheet on the clipboard hanging on your door so you can keep track of treatments. You already have a small athletic training room, so the feng shui is really off when you have multiple large filing cabinets taking up space to hold said documents. For years now, this is what documentation in a sports medicine world looks like. It simply does not have to be that way anymore. We have access to so much technology that can decrease your documentation time and increase your time with your family.

Healthy Roster could offer this type of change for several athletic trainers.

Joining the 21 Century

Healthy Roster has the ability to cut your documentation time in half, giving you more time to provide care to athletes, stay attentive and even get home in time for dinner. Spend less time writing your documentation - spend more time physically treating athletes and doing the fun part of this profession - sounds like a solid trade-off.

Features as simple as documenting on your phone in the dugout immediately after you do a shoulder evaluation allow you to do just that. Healthy Roster takes documentation and communication to an entirely new level. Once that document is complete it is automatically communicated to everyone in the care circle, possibly cutting out the lengthy arguments with coaches or parents over the process of your evaluation. A clean, user friendly platform that strongly values athletic trainers and guides them to utilize technology that improves their day to day life.

Accepting Change

Change is always portrayed as a hard thing to endure in any profession. In college, athletic training students are taught from day one what the outline of a SOAP note looks like and how to fill it out. How did athletic training students practice that? Pen and Paper. It’s something that is instilled at an early age in this profession and it’s hard to let go, but it is an obsolete concept and in this day and age it’s just not necessary - especially with the tools Healthy Roster provides on their website and app. It makes the crazy athletic training life significantly simpler. It allows you to squeeze in more family time that this profession often takes away from you. It saves you from wasting paper on physical forms, emergency medical forms, injury reports, and more. The list goes on and on. Pen and paper is a thing of the past. Rediscover your love of sports medicine with this incredible, HIPAA-compliant, adaptable documentation and communication platform, Healthy Roster.

Maggie Mancini, AT is a licensed athletic trainer in Ohio who is currently employed as an Injury Prevention Specialist at Healthy Roster.