Management and Treatment of Concussions via Tele-Concussion in a Pediatric Setting: Methodological Approach and Descriptive Analysis

• Published in: JMIR pediatrics and parenting 2020-08, Vol.3 (2), p.e19924
• Main Authors: Caze II, Todd, Knell, Gregory P, Abt, John, Burkhart, Scott O
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clinics; Cognitive ability; Concussion; Patients; Pediatrics; Physical therapy; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Teenagers; Telemedicine; Viewpoint; Web portals
• ISSN: 2561-6722; 2561-6722
• DOI: 10.2196/19924

Background: Approximately 2 million children in the United States sustain a concussion annually, resulting in an economic impact as high as US $20 billion. Patients who receive treatment at concussion specialty clinics, versus primary care, experience faster recovery, thereby reducing patient burden and subsequent medical-related costs. Accessibility to specialty clinics is typically limited by the availability of in-office visits. This is particularly relevant in light of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic and subsequent guidance to eliminate all non–medically necessary in-clinic visits. Telehealth has been used to effectively deliver in-clinic care across several disciplines including psychiatry, psychology, and neuropsychology. However, a model of telehealth delivered concussion assessment, treatment, and management has not been established. Objective: The purposes of this paper are to describe a pediatric concussion specialty clinic’s experiences in delivering telehealth concussion services and to provide preliminary descriptive data on a sample of pediatric telehealth patients with concussions. Methods: The specialty pediatric concussion clinic described here began providing telehealth services in 2019 and is part of the largest and fastest-growing telehealth hospital network in the United States. The clinical care process will be described, including accessing the telehealth platform, assessment during the initial appointment, injury management including communication with relevant patient stakeholders (eg, parent or guardians, athletic trainers), dissemination of rehabilitation exercises, and nature of follow-up visits. Descriptive data will include patient demographics, the radius of care, the time between the date of injury and initial visit, the average number of follow-up visits, and days until medically cleared for return-to-learn and return-to-play. Results: The analytic sample included 18 patients with concussions who were seen for all of their visits via telehealth between August 2019 and April 2020. The mean age of the sample was 14.5 (SD 2.5) years. The radius of care was a median of 17 (IQR 11.0-31.0) miles from the clinic with a median time between injury and the first visit of 21 (IQR 6.0-41.5) days. The mean number of visits was 2.2 (SD 0.8) with a median days between visits of 5.4 (IQR 3.0-9.3) to manage and treat the concussion. Of the 18 patients, 55.6% (n=10) were medically cleared for return-to-learn or -