Mild Brain Injury Discharge Instructions Deficient At Hospital ER's

Bob Carroll

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Mild brain injury is a matter evaluated and treated at many emergency rooms. Apparently, most of the patients are being discharged with inadequate information sheets.

Hospital discharge instructions for mild brain injury faulty

In a study published in a recent issue of Brain Injury, researchers at the University at Buffalo found that discharge sheets from 14 of 15 hospitals that were reviewed lacked at least one important sign of a possible hemorrhage.

In addition, most instruction sheets were written at too high a reading level. Some suggestions for concussion management were simply wrong, said Michael Fung, M.D., a Canadian physician doing a fellowship in UB's Sports Medicine Institute and the study's lead author.

"We looked at information given to patients from hospitals on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border in order to determine if the information provided was consistent with the research evidence on signs of hemorrhage," said Fung.

"We found no difference between the countries, but major differences between hospitals. In fact, not one hospital had all of the information needed in a simple, easy-to-understand format. We were especially surprised that the designated trauma hospitals in both countries had such inadequate discharge information sheets."