chapter 26

1. chapter26 Program Administration and Management Michael F. Shipe

2. Program Administration and Management Considerations • Strategic operational planning • Personnel and work environment recommendations • Aspects of comprehensive fitness programs • Potential legal issues • Capital and operating budgets • Recommended fitness equipment • Proper documentation

3. Strategic Operational Planning • All long-term planning should be explicitly oriented toward the facility’s mission statement. • Long-term planning should address the following: • Facility goals (e.g., greater participant retention) • Resources necessary for goal attainment (e.g., capital expenditures and personnel) • Explicit plans to attain objectives (e.g., retention programs, customer service enhancement training) (continued)

4. Strategic Operational Planning (continued) • Short-term planning is a subset of the facility’s long-term planning and should address the same areas that long-term planning addresses. • These plans must be made in consideration of shorter planning time and access to less resources.

5. Managing and Evaluating Personnel • Successful managers dedicate a significant amount of time to recruiting, hiring, supporting, and evaluating their personnel. • During the interview process, managers should attempt to determine a prospective employee’s knowledge base, interpersonal skills, and ability to effectively contend with challenging customer situations. • Managers should thoroughly review each of their employees’ job descriptions so that employees are aware of their daily responsibilities, proper job conduct, and the manner in which they will be evaluated. (continued)

6. Managing and Evaluating Personnel (continued) • Cultivating a successful working environment requires the manager to ensure employees are properly trained, supervised, and evaluated. • Multiple channels of communication (regular interactions on the job, annual evaluations, in-service programs to enhance customer service) foster a welcome working environment.

7. Five Aspects of Comprehensive Fitness Programs: Participant Screening • A prospective participant’s health status should be evaluated with a preparticipation screening tool (e.g., PAR-Q or HSQ). • These questionnaires reduce the chance that people with conditions aggravated by exercise are allowed in the program. • All participants must sign an informed consent before undergoing fitness testing.

8. Five Aspects of Comprehensive Fitness Programs: Fitness Testing • These tests help determine if participants can begin their exercise program immediately, if they require physician consent before doing so, or if they should not be permitted to join the facility. • Fitness testing provides relevant cardiovascular, body composition, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility results that are used to develop an appropriate exercise prescription.

9. Five Aspects of Comprehensive Fitness Programs: Exercise Prescription An appropriate exercise prescription considers a participant’s health status, fitness test results, and personal goals.

10. Five Aspects of Comprehensive Fitness Programs: Program Delivery • Each participant should undergo an orientation of the facility’s fitness equipment that will be used during their exercise program. • A fitness professional should demonstrate how to use the equipment properly and how much weight should be used. • During this process, the fitness professional should develop a rapport with the participant.

11. Five Aspects of Comprehensive Fitness Programs: Counseling • Participants should be given reasonable goals regarding the expected outcomes of their exercise program and periodic reassessment of their physical progress and educational information to enhance their understanding of the health benefits of regular physical activity. • The educational material should be tailored to the individual’s health status and readily understandable.

12. Potential Legal Issues Exercise facilities are liable when they fail to do any of the following: • Monitor or stop a GXT, using professional judgment • Evaluate participants’ functional abilities or impairments that require special attention • Recommend safe exercise intensities • Instruct participants adequately on safe exercise activities • Refrain from giving advice construed to represent diagnosis of a medical condition

13. Safe Exercise Environment • A safe exercise environment is provided with proper participant screening coupled with trained staff members who provide appropriate exercise prescriptions, equipment orientations, and supervision. • By creating this environment, the facility helps satisfy the duty of reasonable care it has to protect participants from injury while using the facility’s exercise equipment.

14. Emergency Procedures • The AHA and ACSM recommend that “all health facilities must have written emergency policies and procedures that are reviewed and practiced regularly.” • Staff members should be certified in CPR. • Emergency procedures should be posted in a visibly accessible area for quick assistance. • The AHA and ACSM recommend that larger fitness facilities (e.g., 2,500 members or more), facilities with programs for seniors, and facilities whose emergency response time to a cardiac arrest is greater than 5 min are equipped with an automatic external defibrillator (AED).

15. Capital and Operating Budgets • A sound budget is an essential component of successful strategic operational planning. • Program administrators should maintain a short-term (annual) and long-term (3-5 yr) budget so that they can assess the financial standing of their facility.

16. Capital Budget A capital budget for a fitness facility typically includes treadmills, elliptical trainers, bikes, resistance machines, computers, office furniture, and essentially any piece of equipment that costs more than $500 with a useful life of at least 1 yr.

17. Operational Budget • The operational budget constitutes the expenses incurred to provide day-to-day services for participants including labor and program costs as well as maintenance and utility expenses. • The development of the operational budget may be divided into four distinct phases: research, goal and objective determination, administration review, and implementation.

18. Recommended Fitness Equipment • The exercise equipment provided should be oriented toward the facility’s target population. • A maintenance log should be maintained that documents when equipment is cleaned and serviced and any specific problems it has experienced. • Specialized equipment is necessary for fitness testing (see table 26.1).

19. Proper Documentation • Personal health information is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 and therefore must remain confidential. • Fitness facilities that conduct proper participant screenings, informed consent, and fitness tests will have a wealth of personal health information. (continued)

20. Proper Documentation (continued) • Personal health information must remain confidential. • This information should be systematically organized and kept in a secure area only accessible to designated employees. • Each exercise facility should maintain an incident form (see form 26.4) to document all accidents and injuries.