Outcomes following Brain Injury

When Outcome Assessment gets it wrong – Emily Fitzgerald

Neurological insults such as trauma and haemorrhage disturb the brain in complex ways, affecting multiple outcome domains. A substantial number of patients with even mild brain injury experience long-term emotional, cognitive and physical deficits. Measuring these deficits is at the core of prognostication and research in neurocritical care. However, the most commonly used outcome measures are simplistic scales that focus on functional outcome. There is increasing concern that the way we define and measure outcomes is failing to capture the multidimensional patient experience.

This presentation of 3 case studies will explore the complexity of assessing long term outcome from brain injury and explore the need for improved outcome assessment measures that better capture patient recovery.

The Podcast

Emily is a senior intensive care nurse and research coordinator at Royal North Shore Hospital. She helped establish and manages the NOICE database – a large neurocritical care outcomes project. She is currently completing a PhD examining the assessment of outcomes following subarachnoid haemorrhage, trauamtic brain injury and intracerebral haemorrhage.

The Slides

Outcomes following Brain Injury from Coda Change