Healthcare providers' attitudes and behaviours related to paediatric mild traumatic brain injury: results from the 2014 DocStyles survey.
Kelly Sarmiento, Zoe Donnell, Rosanne Hoffman and 1 others
PMID 29683728WHAT IT FOUND
Most clinicians seeing paediatric patients feel only somewhat prepared to guide return to school or sports after mild traumatic brain injury.
Few use screening tools often. Beliefs about guideline adequacy did not improve between 2011 and 2014.
Key findings
0155.1% of respondents felt 'somewhat prepared' to make decisions about when paediatric patients can safely return to school and sports.
02Only 26% of all healthcare providers reported that they often discuss with their paediatric patients what to do if they get a mild traumatic brain injury while playing sports.
03There were no significant changes in preparedness or beliefs about existing resources from 2011 to 2014.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The survey relies entirely on self-reported data, which was not verified against actual clinical records. Participants were not randomly selected but weighted to match national demographics, limiting generalizability. The survey did not specify which guidelines or tools respondents were evaluating. The survey did not collect data on the specific age ranges of paediatric patients seen by each provider. The survey did not measure the volume of patients treated, so it is unclear if low tool usage correlates with low case volume.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors reported no potential conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these findings apply directly to physical therapists, occupational therapists, or speech-language pathologists. The survey sample consisted exclusively of physicians (family, internists, paediatricians) and nurse practitioners. The paper provides no data on the attitudes or behaviours of allied health professionals.