Concussion Management Policy

Concussion Management Policy in the School Setting
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Concussion Management Policy in the School Setting
Introduction
Purpose/Specific Aims
Concussion management is not only a duty and role for school nurses to play, it is also part of the law as provided in The Concussion Management and Awareness Act, in Chapter 496 of the 2011 Laws. Thus, it is paramount that nurses working in schools ensure that they follow the provisions of the law of managing concussions and develop a protocol in the school setting to guide them in concussion management. Thus, the goal of this research paper is to come up with a concussion management protocol in schools in order to give nurses the capacity to identify students with potential
This will help minimize the risk of concussions, and insure that the proper equipment, supervision and education is provided to the staff, students and even parents to minimize the risks associated with concussions. This should include the signs and symptoms, how concussions occur, and the long and short-term effects that may result from concussions. The protocol and policy should also include a proper way of reporting any cases of concussions by students at the slightest suspicion no matter how mild they might think it is. Moreover, the protocol should also include the right processes and procedures that should be followed in reviewing student athletes periodically as will be agreed. The main emphasis in the formulation of the protocol should be places on the need for urgent medical evaluation in the case of such injuries to prevent persistent symptoms (The State Education Department ,
According to (Tator, 2013) approximately 144,000 of pediatric and adolescent patients are treated for concussions in emergency departments every year. In addition, there are also approximately 3.8 million concussions annually as a result of sports. Majority of these concussions occur in pediatrics and adolescents. For most of these patients, the initial point of care after they have sustained concussions is their primary care medical providers. In schools, these are nurses. Thus, it is essential for the nurses to ensure timely recognition and the earliest possible institution of appropriate management for concussions. This is essential in improving clinical outcomes as a result of the concussions. This is especially vital because to this day, there is no sole diagnostic modality that can be used to detect concussions. On the contrary, school nurses have to rely on their knowledge and experience to uncover the symptoms known to be associated with concussions in medical history. They should also rely on conducting a physical examination that is targeted specifically to identifying the known discrepancies related to