Concussion Education Training and Healthcare Provider Knowledge

Abstract

As of this year, all but two U.S. States have passed laws requiring management protocols for concussion in student-athletes. These laws feature provisions that institute mandatory clinical examination and clearance by a medical professional for return-to-play after sport-related head injuries. However, a large majority of medical providers are not equipped to meet this increasing demand for concussion knowledge, creating a clinical “practice-gap” in concussion care. To help address this increased need for concussion education in the medical community, the current study administered an online concussion training program in the context of the Health IMPACTS for Florida Network. This network of health care providers was created in order to conduct community-based research including a concussion study on the youth population across the state of Florida. Participating health care professionals completed a pre-test, training modules based on current concussion consensus knowledge, and a post-test primarily delivered through a virtual format on the study website portal. Results showed a significant effect of training from preto post-test analysis in that providers improved an average of 23% on the measure of concussion knowledge after viewing the training modules. These findings support the utility of virtual concussion training for health care providers as a feasible means of reducing the “practicegap” between legislative mandate and provider knowledge.