Lately, it seems that there is a great lack of respect for the amount of knowledge that an athletic trainer brings to the table when it comes to traumatic brain injuries. Certainly, I have stated the case may times, including on this blog, that parents of high school athletes don't really understand the lack of current training of emergency room physicians.
However, it has also been demonstrated to me that an insidious idea is more wide spread than I previously thought. The idea that having the title "doctor" means that they are the authority on ALL things medicine is a fallacy. The notion that an individual doctor can know every injury and stay current on every topic is flat out absurd. The latest instance came where a pediatric oncologist (who as I understand is exceptional an oncologist) signed off for a kid to return to play in a youth football game. I find it difficult to believe that an oncologist has the same kind of updated training that a neurosurgeon or a neuropsychologist does in treating TBIs. I find that the willingness of physicians who probably have not had any training with TBI since their days of residency to do a quick evaluation on the sidelines and sign a piece of paper to allow a child with a potential TBI to return to play to be appalling. I don't know of a single physician that would allow anyone else to intrude into their area of specialty and try to make recommendations based on outdated evaluative techniques and theories. I don't see where this is any different.
The most frustrating part of this is that the parents and coaches that were most closely connected to this situation completely disregarded the opinion of the individual who was identified as an athletic trainer (who also happened to be a referee of the game). The league administrators even scoffed at the idea that the athletic trainer's experience may have been sufficient to recognize the possible TBI and send the child for further evaluation. It was plainly obvious that these individuals had absolutely no idea of the background of a certified athletic trainer and need to be enlightened.
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