Publication Date: May 2022 (Volume 1, Number 2)
CME Credits: 4 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. CME expires 05/01/2025.
Specialty CME: Included as part of the 4 credits, this CME activity is eligible for 4 Trauma CME credits, subject to your state and institutional requirements.
Editor-in-Chief & Update Author
Urgent Care Peer Reviewer & Charting Commentator
Urgent Care Peer Reviewer
Original Author
Original Peer Reviewers
Urgent care (UC) clinicians can expect to see several patients each week who have sustained some type of blunt trauma to the head; many of these patients will present with chief complaints of facial or scalp lacerations and other wounds. The clinical approach to these patients varies widely, and despite the availability of clinical guidelines and decision tools, a substantial number of these patients will undergo ED transfer and/or computed tomography (CT) of the head. The large majority of head CTs performed on patients with mild closed head injury (CHI) will be interpreted as normal,1 so the challenge for the UC clinician is to quickly identify the small subset of patients who harbor serious intracranial injuries, in order to avoid unwarranted ED transfers as well as to limit costly diagnostic procedures and unnecessary radiation exposure. UC clinicians must accurately document a neurologic baseline for serial examinations and provide discharge instructions that educate patients and families about the potential sequelae of head injury, regardless of how minor the injury appears to be. Further challenges include the rapidly evolving research and recommendations on head injury treatment in the sports arena, with nearly all states having active or pending laws on return to play for youth sports, and full elimination of any same-day return to play after concussive events.2
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