Accidents involving students, teachers, or staff members are bound to happen. Whether you offer contact sports or someone simply falls, your school should create, distribute, and follow concussion protocols that can be easily referenced when an accident occurs.
Neurosurgery, the official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, defines a concussion as “a change in brain function after a force to the head that may be accompanied by temporary loss of consciousness but is identified in awake individuals with the use of measures of neurologic and cognitive dysfunction.”
A concussion protocol is a set of policies, tools, assessments and recovery steps employed in unison to help to prevent, diagnose, and care for concussions. Even if your school offers no formal sporting activities, you’re not off the hook. Concussions can happen anywhere and at any time, including on the playgrounds, in the school gym, or during field trips.
Today we’re providing some guidelines to help build awareness of the topic. Discuss any suggestions and activities suggested here with your school’s trusted health care professionals.
Because this area is complex, we recommend forming a concussion team that is similar to, and perhaps a part of, your school’s safety committee. Draw this team from your faculty and staff, with a professional medical resource. Include the following positions.
- Concussion coordinator. This is a trained health care professional who will be called in the event of a suspected concussion. This person will oversee the full situation, including the initial diagnosis, any needed treatment, recovery trajectories, and return to normal activities. This person can be your school nurse or doctor.
- Athletic trainer. In the case of a sports-related injury, this person conducts the initial sideline evaluation.
- Teachers and administrators. These team members can help build awareness for what to do in case there’s a suspected concussion during a nonathletic event.
Your concussion protocol, which is preventative in large part, should include:
- Creating your concussion team.
- Creating and disseminating required training for all faculty and staff on what to do in case of a suspected concussion.
- Implementing preventative sports-related measures that include pre-season physicals, monitored practices, and baseline testing; use of proper and certified equipment; and knowledge of students’ relevant medical conditions.
- Developing guidelines for when and how to refer an injured person to a doctor.
- Providing recommendations for post-concussion management, recovery trajectories, and step progression.
- Instructing how a person who suffered a concussion can return to normal academic and sports-related activities, and what to do in the case they aren’t able to return to campus immediately. These changes may include adjusting how a student can best and most safely learn, such as limited or no attendance at school, certain visual accommodations (larger print, being read to, limited use of computer screens), simpler assignments with multiple breaks, or delayed testing.
Educating students and parents about concussions is essential. Students must understand how serious concussions can be, and how to recognize the injury early. Parents must also be clear on how to identify symptoms and monitor any suspected concussions.
Schools are responsible for keeping everyone on campus safe. Establishing, training, and modifying your concussion protocols helps safeguard your students and protect the school— financially and in terms of reputation.
Schools of all shapes and sizes choose to add an extra layer of protection for their students with ISM’s Domestic Student Accident Insurance. It’s an investment not just in your graduating classes of tomorrow, but also in your school’s future. Learn more here.
Additional ISM Resources:
The Source for School Heads Vol. 10 No. 1 Take the Dangers of Concussion Seriously As Your Athletes Get Back in Action
The Source for Academic Leadership Vol. 11 No. 2 Showing Sportsmanship
