The Center for Disease Control has recently revised their guidelines and developed a toolkit for physicians to help them determine if a child has suffered from a traumatic brain injury.
Some people don’t get medical treatment at all for a mild traumatic brain injury MTBI, but that actually can result in life-long impairment, according to the CDC.
Symptoms of MTBI that may persist include:
- persistent headache
- pain
- fatigue
- vision or hearing problems
- memory loss
To assist physicians in early diagnosis of MTBI, the CDC worked with an expert work group to update and create a tool-kit that contains clinical information to help doctors make the correct diagnosis and treatment.
- a booklet with information on diagnosis and management of MTBI;
- a patient assessment tool (Acute Concussion Evaluation or ACE);
- a care plan to help guide a patient’s recovery;
- fact sheets in English and Spanish on preventing concussion;
- a palm card for the on-field management of sports-related concussion; and
- a CD-ROM with downloadable kit materials and additional MTBI resources.
If physicans can determine if a TBI is mild but still needs some kind of medical monitoring they can ensure that there are no long-term consequences from the injury.
