FastMed Takes a ‘Pre-Injury’ Approach to Concussion Care

Urgent care—and the medical community in general—has come a long way in concussion recognition and management. One shortfall has been that clinicians assessing patients who experienced a blow to the head had nothing to compare their findings to, in terms of the patient’s “normal” capabilities. The most recent development in the field has been the idea of getting a baseline on a patient’s cognitive health conditions before an injury occurs. FastMed just launched its own baseline concussion testing service in its Phoenix, AZ area urgent care centers, aimed mainly at high school athletes. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that roughly 15% of high school students have at least one concussion related to sports or physical activity over a 1-year period.) The baseline assessments measure visual and verbal memory, reaction time, and processing speed. If a patient presents with a suspected head injury, the provider can compare the baseline test results with his or her postinjury condition. The results can help guide concussion management, including consideration of when it would be safe for the child to return to normal play. (JUCM published an original article on offering concussion assessment services in an urgent care center. Concussion Management in Urgent Care: A Primer For Implementation is available in our archives.)