A Concussion Toolkit Educational Session: Promoting Evidence-Based Management of Youth Concussion in a Rural Primary Care Setting

Abstract

Concussions are a form of mild traumatic brain injury, yet the potential short-term and long-term adverse effects are anything but mild. Concussions, especially if left undiagnosed or untreated, can adversely affect a student’s scholastic achievements, relationships, emotions, and long-term health outcomes. Despite the recent surge in concussion awareness, literature substantiates a gap in the knowledge and adherence to published concussion guidelines amongst primary care providers. Rural communities, with a lack of access to specialty providers, rely on primary care providers to ensure youth concussions are appropriately evaluated and managed to reduce both the short-term and long-term negative health outcomes associated with concussions. This practice improvement project (PIP) focused on increasing primary care providers’ knowledge and promoting evidence-based concussion management practices in two rural North Dakota communities. Through implementation of the PIP, rural primary care providers were educated on the latest evidence-based concussion management guidelines, given resources for clinical practice, and provided an opportunity to evaluate and treat a mock-concussion patient. Project implementation was comprised of a concussion educational session, which included concussion education and the introduction of a concussion toolkit, and a return skill demonstration, where providers applied their acquired concussion evaluation and management strategies on a mock-concussion patient. To assess the participants’ perceived self-confidence and likelihood of using evidence-based practices when evaluating and managing patients with concussions, a self-confidence evaluation survey was administered. The providers were also evaluated on their ability to evaluate and treat a concussion patient during the return skill demonstration. The results of the project indicated an overall increase in participant knowledge, self-confidence, and likelihood of following concussion management guidelines in their next encounter with a patient suspected of suffering from a concussion. The educational session, concussion toolkit, and return skill demonstration were effective interventions in promoting the use of concussion management guidelines by primary care providers in the rural clinic setting.