Brain Injury Insider Episode 145: New Outpatient Guidelines for Traumatic Brain Injury: A Major Shift in TBI Care

Today on The Brain Injury Insider, I want to call your attention to an important breakthrough in the management of traumatic brain injury:  

The development of outpatient clinical practice guidelines designed to standardize care for the millions of Americans recovering from TBI.

Although protocols exist for emergency care and hospital management of people with a brain injury, no protocols exist regarding outpatient management following emergency care or inpatient hospital care, and no guidelines exist for individuals who never were seen in a hospital. 

Patient care following a traumatic brain injury is inconsistent, fragmented and often inadequate.  This includes people suffering from concussions as well as other types of brain trauma. 

Less than half of individuals with a TBI receive any follow-up care after they leave the emergency department.    

Failing to provide follow up care contributes to prolonged symptoms, unnecessary disability, and missed opportunities for early intervention.

To address this, the Action Collaborative on TBI Care, part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has released evidence-based guidelines that focus on the first six months after injury. These new guidelines are published in the Annals of Family Medicine to make outpatient care predictable, effective, and patient-centered.

Watch this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/e7EsYpmdB08

Find out more about brain injury at https://brainlaw.com/brain-injuries/help/

Brain Injury Insider is a weekly podcast by The Brain Injury Law Firm ®, De Caro & Kaplen, LLP.

Host Michael Kaplen is a passionate advocate of the rights of brain injury survivors, and has been fighting on their behalf for over 40 years.

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