Posted by Nina Corin, DCoE Public Affairs on December 21, 2015
Providers should rely on the evidence base for cognitive rehabilitation of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) rather than solely on “clinical intuition,” an expert told attendees at the 2015 Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) Summit.
“Please use the available materials” to guide cognitive rehabilitation for mild TBI, commonly known as concussion, Linda Picon, the Department of Veterans Affairs liaison for TBI at DCoE, urged providers. There is still much to learn about the most effective treatments for this patient population, but using the wealth of provider tools available means that care can be standardized to help advance the science and optimize patient outcomes, she said.
Although existing practice standards are primarily based on studies of patients with moderate to severe TBI rather than concussion, Picon said the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments have a number of concussion resources to guide the assessment and treatment of problems with attention, memory, executive function, social competence and other common cognitive complaints. These include: