Barriers to implementation of best practices for concussion management

For a number of years, several Canadian organisations invested significant efforts towards the important objective of knowledge translation and dissemination about concussion to diverse target populations including healthcare providers, athletes, coaches, teachers, parents and sport organisations. Although such efforts have most likely increased the general awareness, knowledge and attitudes about concussion, successful knowledge implementation requires more than dissemination of knowledge. In other words, improving knowledge about concussion is necessary for implementation, but it does not ensure that each individual involved in sport has access to optimal preventive approaches, nor that, in the event of a concussion, they will have access to proper care. The application of the knowledge-to-action framework to concussion4 tells us that, among a number of characteristics, knowledge transfer should be user-specific, context-specific, impact-oriented and an interdisciplinary process. Accordingly, for the efficient implementation of proper concussion prevention and management at all levels of participation, user-specific, context-specific and impact-oriented processes (or protocols) should be required when sports or events carry a risk of concussion.

Recommendations

Recommendation 1: Organisations responsible for operating, regulating or planning sport and sporting events with a risk of concussion should be required to develop/adapt and implement a concussion management protocol, based on current best practices, that is customised for their context and available resources.

Sport-organising bodies including school-based and non-school-based, amateur and professional, should analyse not only the recommendations about concussion management but also how these recommendations can be implemented in their specific context. For example, the implementation of recommendations related to cognitive rest and return to school/learning will need the involvement of academic resources to identify the optimal ways to achieve academic accommodations following a concussion. Likewise, obtaining medical clearance before return to unrestricted (collision or contact) training/practice will raise the issue of timely access to the relevant medical expertise. A required process of protocol development will not only have great implicit educational value for all the relevant organisations, but will also help identify context-specific issues that will lead to innovative and contextualised solutions for better concussion prevention and management. This recommendation implies the development of regulations or legislation by national, provincial and territorial regulating bodies for amateur and professional sport, public health organisations and governments to define these responsibilities. The process for developing or adapting a concussion management protocol should aim to achieve the outcomes listed in box 1.

Material developed to support many aspects of concussion education and protocol development is available on or through links from the CCC webpage.3 This webpage contains links to the websites of organisations that have contributed to the body of knowledge about concussion prevention and management in Canada and elsewhere. Collectively, these websites have concussion-specific resources for players, parents, coaches, teachers, organisations and others. Questions regarding protocol development can be addressed to the CCC through the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine.3

Recommendation 2: In situations where timely and sufficient availability of medical resources qualified for concussion management is not available, multidisciplinary collaborative approaches should be used to improve concussion management outcomes while facilitating access to medical resources where appropriate.

Current recommendations related to gradual RTP following a concussion state that ‘medical clearance’ must be obtained prior to participation in unrestricted (collision or contact) training.2 In higher levels of participation such as professional or varsity sports, timely and direct access to expert medical evaluation can most likely be achieved. However, meeting that requirement ‘at all levels of participation’ remains a challenge. It has been suggested that ‘this principle may not be achievable in remote regions, where responsibility should be delegated to other trained healthcare professionals’.5 Requiring that a concussed athlete be cleared unilaterally by a physician, regardless of concussion-related expertise, may result in less than optimal RTP decisions than those involving other properly trained licensed healthcare professionals in the context of a medically supervised concussion management protocol. If improved concussion management outcomes are expected, multidisciplinary participation in decision-making under medically supervised concussion management protocols that comply with locally applicable legislation is a desirable and acceptable option that meets the objective of the current best practice recommendations. Such innovative approaches should not only aim to provide timely access to adequate RTP decisions by properly trained licensed health professionals but also facilitate access to physicians with relevant expertise in situations that necessitate medical care.