Guidelines released today by Canadian pediatric emergency medicine researchers at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation are in line with the work that has been taking place over the past several years at CHOP to help improve pediatric concussion diagnosis and treatment and standardize youth concussion care.
“These Canadian guidelines are a great blueprint to help healthcare professionals provide standardized concussion care to children, which has been a major emphasis of our multidisciplinary concussion team at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,” said Christina Master, MD, pediatric sports medicine specialist at CHOP. “In 2013 we had more than 12,800 concussion visits through CHOP’s emergency department, primary care and specialty care network, so we know firsthand the variability of pediatric concussion, and the need for a multifaceted care approach that recognizes each child’s concussion is unique and can differ greatly from adult concussion.”
CHOP’s multidisciplinary concussion team developed an evidence-based primary and specialty care approach to diagnose and treat concussions in children to ensure that no matter where a child enters the CHOP system – in a primary care office, emergency department, or throughout specialty care settings such as sports medicine or neurology – care is standardized, multifaceted and based on best clinical practice guidelines.
ONLINE RESOURCES FOR KEY AUDIENCESCHOP has a robust website, chop.edu/concussion, with downloadable resources for key audiences – families, healthcare providers, school staff and coaches – to help guide them in recognizing concussions and to support children's physician-guided recovery.
Online resources available here include: • Engaging infographics that can be shared (electronically and in print form) with youth and families to increase awareness about the importance of recognizing concussions in children and youth and supporting them during recovery
• Fact sheets on concussion for families, healthcare providers, school staff and coaches
• A series of videos that answer frequently asked questions about concussions, including concussion mythbusters, concussion symptoms, concussion diagnosis and evaluation, and returning to school and play after a concussion Shaping the National Discussion on Pediatric Concussion
Through rigorous outreach, CHOP’s experts are raising awareness of the problem of youth concussion – by sharing resources, conducting research, and serving on national panels and committees that are shaping the national discussion of the future of pediatric concussion guidelines and research.
CHOP is developing a comprehensive pediatric and adolescent concussion registry, which will provide a database of information about concussion cases to inform scientific research to improve care.
“It will collect the depth and breadth of data to help us understand the association between symptoms of concussion, such as vision problems and balance issues, characteristics of the child or the injury event, and the short- and long-term outcomes. These data will help guide us toward developing objective tools for diagnosis of concussion and monitoring of recovery,” said Kristy B. Arbogast, PhD, director of engineering for CHOP’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention. Dr. Arbogast contributed to an Institute of Medicine report in 2013 that revealed many gaps in understanding of the causes and consequences of sports-related concussions. In addition to sitting on the IOM panel, she is a member of the National Council on Youth Sports Safety.
CHOP experts available for comment include:
Christina Master, MD, a pediatric sports medicine specialist with a background in pediatric primary care. She is an expert in the field of pediatric and adolescent sports medicine, with an emphasis on pediatric and adolescent concussion. Her expertise spans patient care, clinical research, and advocacy and education efforts within the community.
Kristy B. Arbogast, PhD, Co-Scientific Director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is an expert in pediatric injury biomechanics, injury causation and the effectiveness of safety products for children.
About The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation’s first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children’s Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program receives the highest amount of National Institutes of Health funding among all U.S. children’s hospitals. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 535-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.
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