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Hospital Care
Hospital care after someone has a traumatic brain injury can run the gamut from a quick neurological checkup and perhaps an MRI imaging test to months of fulltime monitoring and care. Depending on the severity of the injury, hospital care might involve the emergency department and the intensive care unit.
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Emergency Room Considerations for People with Brain Injury
We know that every brain injury is unique, but in all cases, the acute care phase can be very important to a successful recovery. Dr. Bazarian, does it matter what hospital or emergency center a person is taken to after an accident, and what should they look for in order to get the best outcome? I think it's important for people who've had traumatic brain injury, and this is especially true with the more severe ends of brain injury, that they go to an emergency department that has the ability to perform a CAT scan rapidly, and then has a neurosurgeon that can be standing by ready to remove a blood clot that could be potentially life threatening. Now when someone is brought to the ER with a brain injury, what are the first concerns? We have several concerns when someone is first brought to emergency, and obviously these concerns will be a little bit different for someone at the milder end of things than at the severe end of brain injury. At the severe ends of traumatic brain injury--so someone who comes in and appears that they're in a coma, we're very concerned with securing their airway and making sure that they're breathing properly. Those 2 things are very important for limiting any susequent brain injury that they might have, and then thirdly, we also need to maintain their blood pressure. We do all these things as quickly as we can so that we can move on to getting the CAT scan, which is kind of a picture of their brain--really helps us know what we need to do next. Now at the milder ends of brain injury--the concussion--we're focused more on getting a CAT scan and figuring out what to do after that.
Treatment of TBI in the Emergency Department
Early identification of traumatic brain injury is crucial, because we have found that the sooner we can diagnose and treat this problem, the better the patient's chances for full recovery. This is really true for moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injuries. So, for the patient who is in a coma, the quicker we can get them to a center that can control their airway, their breathing, their circulation, and get that CT scan, the sooner we can take care of their brain, especially if we need a neurosurgeon to evacuate some blood. Now, in the case of mild traumatic brain injury, I still think that early diagnosis is important, because a small percentage of concussion patients, or mild TBI patients, will have--will be harboring a small clot there. They'll look like you and I sitting here and looking fine, but they'll be harboring a small clot that's slowly getting bigger and bigger. Only about 5% or so of all concussion patients will have this, but it's hard to know just by looking at someone whether they're going to be that 5%. So, getting them to a place that can do a CT scan quickly, is important for identifying that potentially life-threatening blood clot. But, I think, it's also important to get patients to some medical facility so that they can get a CT scan, and even if it's normal, have the emergency provider talk to them about what to expect, because they're going to have a variety of symptoms that they've never had before, and we want them to understand this is probably related to getting hit in the head and in most cases, patients will feel better in three to six months. We think that this helps people just accept some of these symptoms and not think that they're nuts. We don't want people thinking that they're crazy. We want them to understand that they've had a head injury, they probably will get better, and this is what to expect. So, if we see a concussion patient who comes in, they look fine, but we do a CT scan and we find a collection of blood, then we have to make a decision here. Is this the kind of blood that needs an operation or is this the kind of blood that we won't be able to get out with an operation? In a small percentage of cases, we can tell just by looking at the CT scan, this is the kind of blood collection that needs an operation, and these are called epidural hematomas and subdural hematomas. So those, generally, need an operation, and we just--we get the neurosurgeons, and they're excellent at helping us sort, sort through those issues. But unfortunately, the vast majority of these abnormal CT scans in concussion patients are bruises. They're collections that aren't amenable to being taken out by a surgeon. So, what we do with those patients is we watch them for 24 hours, because sometimes that bruise gets a little bit bigger, and then patients start to get sleepy, and we need to do airway, breathing, circulation. So 24 hours gives us that window of opportunity to see whether that's going to happen, and we also repeat the CT scan. So, we bring them into the hospital, watch them for 24 hours. if there's no change in their level of alertness, their CT scan looks the same, then we can discharge them safely. If families of patients who are brought into emergency are not pleased with the advice they're getting or they're wanting more, there are several resources that they can turn to. I think the first one that comes to my mind is the Brain Injury Association of America, and I know they have a website that has a lot of information on what you can expect after a traumatic brain injury. And most states have chapters of BIA that can tell you about local resources. So, which physicians in your area specialize in taking care of traumatic brain injury? What sources are there if you were looking to get your child to school or some help with work or school? So, the chapter of-- the state chapters of BIA are often helpful in that regard. I believe you can get to the state chapters from the national BIA website. But as that aside, the American College of Emergency Physicians is working on a standard set of discharge instructions that would--we recommend it to all emergency care providers. Now, it still doesn't protect against the possibility that some rogue physician would not want to use them, but, I think, that would really help in standardizing the care that we give, at least from an emergency setting, and maybe minimize the circumstance you discussed where maybe a family didn't really get much advice from the emergency care provider.
Choosing a Rehabilitation Hospital for Your Loved One
What should family members and patients be looking for when considering programs following a brain injury? Well, as far as post-acute care is concerned, I think the main things are that you want a program that deals with a reasonable volume of similar types of patients. You want a program where there is, hopefully, an interdisciplinary-- or what is termed trans-disciplinary treatment approach, ideally, with involvement of a good behavioral psychologist or a functionally-oriented neuropsychologist and a physician-- not necessarily a physiatrist, but a physician who understands brain injury who might be a neuropsychiatrist, a neurologist, or a physiatrist. I think those are probably the three most common. And I think you need to feel comfortable visiting the programs, talking with staff before making a decision about whether that is the place for your loved one.
