Samantha Scarneo-Miller, PhD, ATC

Research Interests

As athletic participation numbers continue to rise, corresponding catastrophic and even fatal injuries continue to occur in sport. Unfortunately, many high schools are ill prepared to prevent and/or respond to these types of injuries. We have identified that fewer than 10% of high school athletic trainers report having a comprehensive emergency action plan, 3.9% have comprehensive heat acclimatization procedures, 28% have comprehensive environmental monitoring, and the list goes on. My research aims to improve proactive preparation for these emergency situations which includes the development of policies and procedures, emergency action plans and standing orders. Proactive emergency planning improves patient outcomes, allowing for a safer environment for athletes to participate in. More information on these initiatives, including downloadable resources for athletic trainers, is available via the patient care tab of my profile. 

My research career, to date, has focused on evaluating benchmark data regarding the current adoption of sport-safety best practices, such as emergency action plan development and implementation, automated external defibrillator (AED) availability, and exertional heat illness preparedness and management. My research agenda integrates public health concepts into sports medicine education and research using multiple public health frameworks and models to examine the various facets affecting health and safety policy development and implementation, particularly at the high school level. The long-term goal of this research is to develop tailored strategies for athletic trainers to utilize to improve health and safety policy implementation, thus enhancing athlete safety and promoting lifelong physical activity.

I have received federal, Foundation, and internal funding to support my research agenda. I have also been an invited speaker to many national organization symposiums including the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and American College of Sports Medicine. Additionally, I serve as an expert witness on catastrophic injury legal cases.

Featured Research Projects

Emergency Planning in Sports

• Emergency action plans are one of the most important health care administration documents for any sports setting. Emergency action plans, or EAPs, set the standard of care to respond to any type of emergency. This work aims to evaluate the current adoption, implementation and compliance with best practice guidelines for EAP development and implementation.

Planned Response Emergency Protocols for Athletic Recreational Environments (PREPARE)

• ​Written health and safety policies for emergent injuries result in improved patient outcomes and prevent death. Compliance with these life-saving policies allows for deliberate, proactive emergency planning and is a critical first step to implementation of best practices. Despite reduced death rates, most high schools do not have written policies for all necessary components of best practices outlined in position statements. Athletic trainers lack formal in-depth training to evaluate policies, and thus, are ineffective at evaluating these critical documents to improve best-practice adoption. The ultimate goal of the PREPARE program is to emphasize the magnitude of positive policy changes when learning from a trusted peer-athletic trainer and can provide a framework for school-level healthcare resource management and healthcare provision for high school athletes.

​Legal Study Case Review

• Previous research has focused on the prevalence, incidence, and immediate treatment of sudden death among the athletic population; however, it has not included research on the other factors surrounding catastrophic cardiac events in athletics and the corresponding legal proceedings. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to determine common variables in legal proceedings regarding sudden death in organized sports.

Grants and Research

Current Grants and Contracts

• MedStar Health and USA Lacrosse
  • Lacrosse: A Mapping Review
  • Role: Principal Investigator
  • Dates: January 2023 – January 2024
• American College of Sports Medicine Foundation
  • The Association Between Central Nervous System Function and Core Body Temperature in Exertional Heat Stroke Patients
  • Role: Co-Investigator (Yeargin, PI)
  • Dates: July 1, 2023-June 30 2024
• Mid-Atlantic Athletic Trainers’ Association
  • The Association Between Central Nervous System Function and Core Body Temperature in Exertional Heat Stroke Patients
  • Co-Investigator (Yeargin, PI)
  • Dates: July 1, 2023-June 30 2024
• NIH Loan Repayment Program 2021
  • AwardID: 1L40HD103196-02
  • Extramural Award; NICHD
  • A Improving Health and Safety Standards for High School Athletes
  • Role: Principal Investigator
  • Dates: July 2022-June 2024

Completed Grants and Contracts

• NIH Loan Repayment Program 2020
  • AwardID: 1L40HD103196-01
  • Extramural Award; NICHD
  • A National Evaluation of Best-Practice Policy Adoption in Secondary School Athletics
  • Role: Principal Investigator
  • Dates: July 2020-June 2022
• West Virginia University, Research and Scholarship Advancement, internal faculty grant
  • Improving emergency preparedness in West Virginia high school athletics: the Policy development for Response, Education and Planning (PREP) Program
  • Role: Principal Investigator
  • Dates: July 2021-June 2022
• Eastern Athletic Trainers Association
  • A National Evaluation of Best-Practice Policy Adoption in Secondary School Athletics
  • Role: Principal Investigator
  • Dates: July 2018 – January 2020
• National Athletic Trainers Association: Research and Education Foundation
  • Dissemination of comprehensive safety toolkit to improve best-practice policy adoption at the secondary school level
  • Role: Consultant (DiStefano, PI)
  • Dates: June 2018 – August 2020
• National Athletic Trainers Association: Research and Education Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Grant
  • Emergency Action Planning Policy Adoption in Secondary School Athletics
  • Role: Principal Investigator
  • Dates: June 2017 – August 2018

Publications

Select Publications

Please refer to the publications list linked below for a full list of publications.

1. Scarneo-Miller SE, Hosokawa Y, Drezner JA, Hirschhorn RM, Conway DP, Elkins GA, Hopper MN, Strapp EJ. National Athletic Trainers’ Association Position Statement: Emergency Action Plan Development and Implementation in Sport. J Athl Train. 2024

2. Miller K, Amaria N, Casa DJ, Jardine J, Stearns RL, O’Connor P, Scarneo-Miller SE. Exertional Heat Stroke Survivors’ Knowledge and Beliefs about Exertional Heatstroke Diagnosis, Treatment and Return to Play. J Athl Train. (accepted March 2024)

3. Courson R, Henry G, Borque K, Casa DJ, Collins M, Eason CM, Elkins G, Ellis J, Fitch W, Hunt R, Kyle J, Lemak L, Mandelbaum B, Morley K, O’Neal CS, Rehberg RS, Reifsteck FE, Scarneo-Miller SE, Sills A. The Pre-Event Medical Time Out. Brit J Sport Med. 2024

4. Yeargin SW, Hirschhorn R, Adams WM, Scarneo-Miller SE. Secondary School State Athletic Association Health and Safety Policy Development Processes. Sch Health. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13454

5. Walker AE, Olfert MD, Scarneo-Miller SE, Claydon EA, Totzkay D. Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Inform Development of a Dissemination and Implementation Science Training for Nutrition Practitioners. Public Health Nutrition. 2023;26(12): 3202-3210. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980023002525

6. Meyer C, Swartz EE, Register-Mihalik JK, Yeargin SW, Scarneo-Miller SE. Cervical Spine Injury Policy Adoption: Describing High Schools’ Readiness Using the Precaution Adoption Process Model. J Athl Train. 2024;59(1):30-38.

7. Scarneo-Miller SE, Adams WM, Coleman KA, Lopez RM. Exertional Heat Illness: Adoption of Policies and Influencing Contextual Factors as reported by Athletic Administrators. Sports Health. 2024;16(1):58-69. https://doi.org/10.1177/19417381231155107. PMID: 36872595

8. Adams WM, Hosokawa Y, Scarneo-Miller SE, Belval LN. Enhancing Exertional Heat Stroke Patient Care: Where are We Now and Where Do We Need to Go? Brit J Sport Med. 2024; 58(1): 1-3. https://doi:10.1136/bjsports-2023-106713. PMID: 37344155

9. Scarneo-Miller SE, Swartz EE, Register-Mihalik JK, Coleman KA, Emrich C, DiStefano LJ. Spinal Cord Injury Management Policies in High School Sports as Reported by Athletic Administrators. Trans. J of Am. Coll. Sports Med. 2023;9(1):1-7. DOI: 10.1249/TJX.0000000000000239.

10. Scarneo-Miller SE, Eason CM, Winkelmann ZK, Emrich CE, Register-Mihalik JK. Athletic Trainers’ Proficiency in Evaluating Emergency Action Plans and a Subset of Catastrophic Policies and Procedures. Int J Athl Train Ther. 2023; 28(6):342-349. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijatt.2022-0019.