News RELEASE

Task Force on SCD in High School Sports


AMSSM Members Participate in Task Force on Sudden Death Prevention in High School Sports

This past February, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) board member Verle Valentine, MD, and former AMSSM president Fran O’Connor, MD, represented the AMSSM at the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA)’s Inter-Association Task Force for Preventing Sudden Death in High School Sports.

The purpose of the meeting was to start the process of drafting a document that will serve as a “Best Practices” guideline to secondary schools in their attempt to maintain the health of their student athletes and in particular, assist in preventing the tragic sudden deaths that occur on high school playing fields across America. The task force, including representatives from numerous sports medicine organizations, had discussions about the various common causes of sudden deaths in these young athletes and what measures should be in place to minimize the number of deaths in high school sports. "During this meeting, there was excellent discussion among health care experts from multiple organizations,” said Valentine.

“I think this process will lead to an excellent document that will be used by secondary schools as a tool to make sure that they are using 'best practices' to reduce the risk of catastrophic injury and death of the athletes in their school."

AMSSM President Jonathan Drezner, MD, is also participating on the writing group for the paper.

The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) is a multi-disciplinary organization of sports medicine physicians whose members are dedicated to education, research, advocacy and the care of athletes of all ages. Founded in 1991, the AMSSM is now comprised of more than 2,200 sports medicine physicians whose goal is to provide a link between the rapidly expanding core of knowledge related to sports medicine and its application to patients in a clinical setting. Visit www.amssm.org to learn more.


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