Healthcare providers’ attitudes and behaviours related to paediatric mild traumatic brain injury: results from the 2014 DocStyles survey

ABSTRACT

Objective: Explore healthcare providers’ experiences managing mTBI and better understand their use of mTBI assessment tools and guidelines.

Cross-sectional Methods: A random sample of 1,760 healthcare providers responded to the web-based DocStyles survey between June 18 and 30, 2014. The sample included family/general practitioners, internists, pediatricians, and nurse practitioners who reported seeing pediatric patients. We examined their experiences with mTBI to identify opportunities to increase preparedness and improve management of mTBI.

Results: Fifty-nine percent of healthcare providers reported that they diagnosed or managed pediatric patients with mTBI within the last 12 months. Of those, 44.4% felt ‘very prepared’ to make decisions about when pediatric patients can safety return to activities, such as school and sports after a mTBI. When asked how often they use screening or assessment tools to assess pediatric patients with mTBI, almost half reported that they ‘seldom’ or ‘never’ use those resources (24.6% and 22.0%, respectively).

Conclusion: Most healthcare providers reported seeing pediatric patients with mTBI, yet most feel only somewhat prepared to manage this injury in their practise. Broader use of screening tools and guidelines, that include clinical decision support tools, may be useful for healthcare providers who care for pediatric patients with mTBI.

Keywords:

• concussion
• healthcare providers
• attitudes
• behaviors

Declaration of Interest

The authors reported no potential conflict of interest. This research study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Disclaimer

The findings and conclusions in this manuscript are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Acknowledgments

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Notes

¹ Porter Novelli Public Services is a public relations firm that has a specialty practice in health and social marketing. 1909 K St, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20006 http://www.porternovelli.com.

² WorldOne is a global market research company. http://www.worldone.com.