• Pediatric emergency care · Mar 2022

    Concussion Referral and Practice Patterns by Pediatric Emergency Medicine Providers.

    • Daniel J Corwin, Jeremy M Root, Mark R Zonfrillo, and Danny G Thomas.
    • From the Division of Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA.
    • Pediatr Emerg Care. 2022 Mar 1; 38 (3): e1133e1138e1133-e1138.

    ObjectivesConcussion is a commonly encountered diagnosis for pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) providers, yet little is known regarding referral patterns to specialists. Our goal was to assess PEM providers' referral patterns and current usage of standardized evaluation tools.MethodsThis study was conducted as cross-sectional survey of PEM providers recruited from the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Emergency Medicine Listserv. Surveys were distributed at 3 time points between December 1, 2020, and February 28, 2021, and included multiple choice, Likert scale, and free text questions. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses were used to describe the sample and compare responses between those with variable experience and confidence in concussion management.ResultsIn total, 162 of 491 Listserv members (33.0%) completed the survey. The factors most often reported to assist in referral decisions were history of severe (92.6%) or multiple (90.7%) prior concussions, prolonged symptom duration (89.5%), and severity of current symptoms (84.6%). Most providers reported having large experience (63.0%) and confidence (54.9%) in managing concussion. Standardized symptom scales (8.0%), vestibular (11.7%) and balance assessments (13.0%), and prognostic tools (6.8%) were infrequently used. Most (64.2%) providers felt specialty referral was important. More than 80% reported high likelihood to use an accurate risk stratification tool to facilitate referral.ConclusionsAlthough most PEM providers reported significant experience and confidence in managing pediatric concussion, standardized assessment tools were infrequently used. Most were likely to use a risk stratification tool to assist in specialty referral. Future studies should assess the ability of targeted referral strategies to improve recovery for concussed youth.Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…