Athletic Training Students' Knowledge of Ethical and Legal Practice with Technology and Social Media

Abstract

Context:Technology, social media, and access to health care continue to grow simultaneously. There is limited research on the knowledge of athletic training students regarding the ethical and legal practice of protected health information using technology and social media.Objective:To explore social media use of athletic training students and to determine their knowledge of patient privacy regulations within social media and technology.Design and Setting:Online survey instrument and knowledge assessment.Patients or Other Participants:A total of 652 athletic training students.Intervention(s):A knowledge assessment of 12 items based on the governance and use of patient privacy compliance in health care within the context of athletic training students' clinical experiences.Main Outcome Measure(s):An instrument of 26 questions, including 14 demographic and 12 knowledge items, was developed and content validated using a Delphi panel of experts in athletic training, health care information technology, and risk management lawyers. Descriptive statistics and independent t tests were calculated.Results:Athletic training students stated they had received previous education (n = 587 of 637, 92.2%) regarding Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, and had an average of 6.81 ± 2.75 active social media accounts. Only 24.2% (n = 154 of 636) of respondents stated their professional athletic training program had a social media policy that was strictly enforced. We identified a lack of knowledge of best practice by athletic training students, with an average knowledge assessment score of 4.92 ± 1.7 out of 13 (37.8%). Total knowledge scores were significantly different (P = .008) if the respondent had previous HIPAA education.Conclusions:The respondents scored poorly on the knowledge assessment despite previous education related to HIPAA regulations. Athletic training educators should seek out strategies to adapt professional or preprofessional curricula to incorporate health care informatics and ethics to adapt to the current culture of technology and social media.