Bumped heads versus concussions

[blue bag nurse]

What's your protocol when a kid bumps or hits their head?

Of course, there are the obvious head injuries with LOC and those sorts of things. That isn't the hard part for me. It's those bumps to the head and the kid seems fine. But then we call the parent, or the child calls from somewhere else, or writes a letter and this bump becomes a huge issue.

Or, we call a parent to let them know about little Susie getting hit on the head and they want her going straight the ER with an emergent CT.......when we all know that isn't going to happen.

What exactly is the protocol at your camp? Anyone care to share?

Thanks!

[Alex Egan, LPN, EMT-B]

There are some pretty good resources from the CDC for school nurses, it even has some treatment recommendations

http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/pdf/TBI_schools_checklist_508-a.pdf

Some additional information from the American Accadamy of Neurology

https://www.aan.com/uploadedFiles/Website_Library_Assets/Documents/3Practice_Management/5Patient_Resources/1For_Your_Patient/6_Sports_Concussion_Toolkit/Concussion%20reference%20sheet.pdf

[blue bag nurse]

The CDC info is great stuff. I use a lot of that in my school nursing job.

[mustangmellie]

Concussion protocol is so strict at my school. We put the kids on a back to play protocol before they can resume back to the sport. Even if the doctor said he didn't suspect a concussion they have to do the back to play per UIL rules. We usually call a parent to inform just to cover our del for any head bump that comes through the office. There is always the one parent that will question us if we don't.

[tining, BSN, RN]

During the phone call we assure the parent that the doctor did a full neuro check, observed them for __ minutes and deemed the child fine. Now certainly symptoms may be delayed and we tell the counselor and camper to return if they don't feel well. I never tell them what to look for so they don't return with verbatim symptoms.