Collaborative Opportunities for Emergency Nurses

◊ Heads Up: Concussion in High School Sports Toolkit

More than 300,000 sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) occur in the United States each year, and many of these injuries are cared for in the emergency department. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a new multimedia educational toolkit, Heads Up: Concussion in High School Sports, to help coaches prevent, recognize, and manage concussion in high school sports.

The Heads Up toolkit contains practical, easy-to-use information for coaches, as well as athletic directors and trainers, teens, and parents, including:

• a video and DVD featuring a high school athlete disabled by concussion;
• a coach’s guide with information about preventing and managing concussion;
• a wallet card and clipboard sticker for coaches;
• posters targeting athletes;
• fact sheets in English and Spanish for parents and athletes; and
• a CD-ROM with downloadable kit materials and other concussion-related resources.

Concussions are a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a blow or jolt to the head, which range from mild to severe and can disrupt the way the brain normally works. Concussions can happen to boys or girls in any sport. The risks increase in athletic activities where collisions between players are common.

Although concussions are often lightheartedly described as "dings" or having one’s "bell rung," even the mildest concussion can be serious. A lack of awareness about the effect of concussions may result in allowing an athlete to return to play too soon following initial injury, placing the athlete at risk of a more serious condition. Second-impact syndrome is a condition that could be fatal and occurs when a person who has had a concussion experiences a second blow while the brain is vulnerable.

Therefore, athletes showing signs or symptoms of concussion should be kept from play until appropriate medical personnel have evaluated their injury and given them permission to return to play. The key message to athletes in the toolkit is that, "It’s better to miss one game than the whole season."

The Heads Up kit can be ordered or downloaded free-of-charge from CDC’s website at www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi/Coaches_Tool_Kit.htm

Emergency nurses can play an important role in providing this information to coaches, athletic directors, teens, and parents.