Assignment 5.1: Pre-participation Sports Requirements

Assignment 5.1: Pre-participation Sports Requirements Jenna M. Westwick Maryville University NURS650 Pediatric Health Promotion Dr. Sabrina Condon 7 June 2020 Pre-Participation Sports Requirements: Are They Enough? The pre-participation sports physical is a clinical evaluation used to evaluate student athletes for illnesses, injuries, and other medical conditions that may place the student athlete in danger of harming him- or herself when participating in school- based sports. It is an important screening tool that can also be used by providers to discuss health maintenance and health promotion among student athletes. However, it has the potential to be taken too lightly, placing the student athlete at increased risk of harm (Cohen, 2019). The question at hand is whether state pre-participation sports physical requirements are satisfactory in the protection of young athletes. By looking at Indiana’s pre-participation sports physical form and accompanying documents, it can better be determined if these requirements require further amendment. Indiana’s Pre-participation Physical Evaluation (PPE) is a packet that begins with a cover page explaining what is required of the form in order to be accepted – including the necessity of the most current version of the form, a licensed provider’s hand-written signature and license number, parent signatures, and student-athlete signature. The form must be completed and turned in prior to engaging in sports or athletic activity with each separate school year. The first and second page of the packet is a History Form that is to be completed by the student athlete with his or her parents if 17 years or younger. This form asks the student athlete about past and current medical conditions, surgeries, medications and supplements, allergies, vaccinations, general questions, bone and joint questions, medical questions, females only questions, and heart health questions about both the student athlete and his or her family. These sections have Yes and No boxes pertaining to each question that are to be checked. It also includes a PHQ-4 to screen for possible depressive disorders. The third page is the Physical Examination form to be completed by a licensed provider, the fourth page is a list of Eligibility Rules, and the fifth page ……………………………CONTINUED…………………………………