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BC Children's Hospital has launched a new online tool to help teachers track and manage concussion recovery among their students.
The latest piece of a program that has been evolving since 2011 offers guidance to teachers on recognizing and responding to concussions, following an effort that has previously focused on medical professionals, parents and coaches.
Available at cattonline.com, the program offers a "one-stop" source of information on concussions – traumatic brain injuries that resolve uneventfully when properly treated, but can cause brain damage or death if not immediately recognized.
"If you Google 'concussion,' you can get millions of hits," said Shelina Babul, associate director and sports injury specialist at the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit and BC Children's Hospital. "There's information out there, but it's not collectively and concisely put together."
Dr. Babul was project leader in the $200,000 effort – funded by such sources as British Columbia's Education Ministry – that has seen the development of the newest piece of the online Concussion Awareness Training Tool. Aside from her injury-research unit, the other partner in the effort was the University of British Columbia.
"How a concussion is handled in the minutes and hours and days after injury can significantly influence the extent of damage and recovery from this injury," she said in an interview on Monday.
Dr. Babul said she began work years ago, responding to calls from parents looking for guidance on how to help their children deal with concussions. "I kept getting calls from parents saying, 'I took my kid to the emergency department or the physician's office and the doctor said, 'He's had a bump to the head. He'll be fine in a couple of days.' Is this correct?'"
Children and youth, she said, are especially vulnerable to concussions because their brains are still developing, along with their head and neck musculature.
Teachers can reduce reading and homework, hours in class or other academic commitments to help students recover – measures outlined in the concussion training tool.
"We wanted to develop something that was engaging, current and going to be kept current," Dr. Babul said, noting the material is being reviewed every month. "It's not a static tool. It is constantly being changed, updated and enhanced."
The team first looked for a similar tool but found only a few programs that weren't very dynamic. Team members also talked to their target audience – parents, coaches, physicians and school professionals.
"We wanted to hear what people wanted and build on that," she said. All of the information was gathered, refined and focused. And then developers were hired to work up the websites.
Since launching the teachers' piece about three weeks ago, Dr. Babul and her team have been talking to teachers and the Ministry of Education about the awareness tool, seeking feedback nationally.
Deb Whitten, associate superintendent of schools for the Greater Victoria School District No. 61, said she has been impressed with the online concussion material.
"I am halfway through it. I think it's excellent," Ms. Whitten said, adding that there are effective self-correcting quizzes to help ensure readers have understood the material. "It's highly effective as an awareness piece." She noted that the Victoria board struck a committee last year to develop policies on managing concussions.
Over on the mainland, a spokesperson for the Surrey School District said the tool has been distributed within the organization.
Dr. Babul said there is now a call to develop similar tools for university athletes and the workplace. And there have been requests to translate the material into other languages.
Ian Bailey