Environmental and Epidemiological Data About a Community to Illustrate and Diagnose the Widespread Population Health Issue
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a significant population health issue in the US and Europe, with an estimated yearly incidence of up to 500/100.000. TBI entails a change in brain function or other signs of brain pathology due to an external force. It is classified as mild TBI, severe TBI or moderate TBI (Peterson et al., 2019). It results in irreversible brain damage that may necessitate hospitalization, rehabilitation therapy, or even death. It is brain damage that impairs the brain’s typical function. It can be caused by a concussion, a penetrating head injury, a hit to the head, or a jolt (Hammond et al., 2019). TBI can also be caused by explosive blasts, notably among people who serve in the United States military. TBI is responsible for about 280,000 hospitalizations in the United States each year.
In New Zealand, a recent population-based study revealed an annual incidence of 790/100.000. Around 87 percent of these individuals underwent treatment and discharge from EDs, approximately 2% died, and another 11% were hospitalized and discharged. These figures, however, understate the prevalence of TBIs (Jourdan et al., 2018). They exclude individuals who lacked medical care, had office-based or outpatient visits or got care at a federal institution, such as those seeking care at a Veterans Affairs health centre or serving in the United States military. Military personnel in the United States face a substantial risk of TBI, as Department of Defence records indicate that between 2000 and 2011, 235,046 service members were diagnosed with a TBI.
An Ethical Health Improvement Plan to Address Traumatic Brain Injury Care Within a Community.
Rehabilitation therapists are progressively capable of saving lives and restoring function to those who have suffered a traumatic brain injury. Along with these therapy accomplishments comes an ethical obligation to be watchful about the long-term requirements of persons who have suffered a traumatic brain injury (Maggio et al., 2019). It demands us to question social ideas and biases and involve all stakeholders in an open and honest discourse regarding brain injury. There should be a holistic view of patients as engaged community members who have a disability for their whole lives. Below are five critical approaches toward achieving this expanded vision.
Rehabilitation professionals should consider the long-term cost implications and fight for more funding for community-based services such as in-home nursing care, behavioral health, case management, special education, and respite care at the state and federal levels. Additionally, individuals with chronic TBI, their caregivers and families should be invited to participate throughout the study process to ensure that their values and needs are reflected in the implementation and interpretation of findings (O’Cathain et al., 2019). Measures of outcome should include qualities that are significant to these individuals.
Rehabilitation specialists can also affect society’s perception of brain injury by fostering open discussion within their communities and supporting the idea that each person living with TBI has a unique story and role in the community. Numerous individuals, including legislators, employers, and the general public, can be motivated to engage with folks who have suffered a brain injury in an acceptable manner (Maggio et al., 2019). Additionally, rehabilitation researchers should disseminate study findings regarding the lifetime needs of those who have sustained a traumatic brain injury to professionals, families, individuals, and the greater society.
Once formal rehabilitation is completed, our ethical obligation is to assist individuals with persistent disabilities in shifting from a medical to a social disability paradigm. Additionally, it entails realizing that chronic problems may remain and offering knowledge, skills, and resources to assist individuals with disabilities in reintegrating into the community (O’Cathain et al., 2019). Prior to, during, and after the switch from rehabilitation, information and assistance about living with a TBI should be provided.
Justification of Value and Relevance of Evidence as a Population Health Improvement Plan
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a primary cause of disability and mortality worldwide. It is connected with lifelong medical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral problems. There are roughly 3.17 million individuals living with TBI-related disabilities in the US alone and around 7.7 million people in the European Union (Peterson et al., 2019). Persistent challenges in cognitive, occupational, and emotional functioning and a decreased quality of life and community integration have been established in research conducted three to five and ten years after injury. According to some specialists, TBI should be viewed as a chronic illness process, implying that a long-term outlook is required for planning and delivering health care services to those with TBI.
Criteria for Evaluating the Outcomes of the TBI Population Health Improvement Plan
Measuring the efficacy of therapies is widely acknowledged as a necessary component of good practice. A critical component of evaluating clinical practice is objectively assessing the intervention and comparing it to a set of predetermined outcomes to establish its efficacy (O’Cathain et al., 2019). It is critical that any measures used to assess outcomes in any healthcare setting cover relatively specific and appropriate domains to the context and population. Furthermore, they must have good measurement properties like reliability, validity, responsiveness, acceptability, and feasibility for that population.
Some are intended to provide a broad gauge of outcomes, while others assess functional capacities for everyday activities or community integration. Others are more narrowly focused on neuropsychological performance or mental disorders (Dewan et al., 2018). Other assessment tools are geared toward specific demographics, such as people who have had a mild traumatic brain injury or concussion. However, no one measurement method can adequately capture all significant aspects of traumatic brain injury outcomes. So multimodal assessments are required to accurately reflect the wide range of factors affecting traumatic brain injury outcomes.
Strategies for Communicating with Community Members and Colleagues About the Development and Implementation of the TBI Improvement Plan
Demonstrate and Inform Through Short Video Updates
One must demonstrate and inform to ensure they are seen and heard. It is also essential to concentrate entirely on a single piece of information worth conveying. As a communicator, one can personalize the message, make it essential, and keep it to 30 seconds (Dewan et al., 2018). Incorporating a video into an article as a sidebar is also advisable.
Schedule Meaningful Updates Consistently
Communicators can also provide consistent, planned, and meaningful updates. Whether in a group or one-on-one environment, it is enormously beneficial for leaders to communicate their progress to their stakeholders, like colleagues and community members (O’Cathain et al., 2019). It also helps create a culture of support, as leaders establish a positive tone, encouraging team members to feel more comfortable sharing their progress with others.
Establish a Predictable Communication Rhythm
Another communication strategy entails establishing a consistent rhythm through regular written and oral communications. Knowing there would be a weekly group call or an email every other day keeps stakeholders informed and, more importantly, gives them the impression that they are always in the loop (Peterson et al., 2019). Additionally, it contributes to developing transparency and trust, two highly significant assets
Utilize A Bottom-Up Strategy
A bottom-up model ensures stakeholders participate in decision-making too. As a result, resistance is reduced, and ownership is increased. After that, each of those individuals becomes a trustworthy spokesperson for their stakeholder group (Maggio et al., 2019). For instance, the community members can be crucial in deciding top activities like the social inclusion of people with TBI.
References
Maggio, M. G., De Luca, R., Molonia, F., Porcari, B., Destro, M., Casella, C., … & Calabro, R. S. (2019). Cognitive rehabilitation in patients with traumatic brain injury: A narrative review on the emerging use of virtual reality. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 61, 1-4.
Hammond, F. M., Giacino, J. T., Nakase Richardson, R., Sherer, M., Zafonte, R. D., Whyte, J., … & Tang, X. (2019). Disorders of consciousness due to traumatic brain injury: functional status ten years post-injury. Journal of neurotrauma, 36(7), 1136-1146.
Jourdan, C., Azouvi, P., Genêt, F., Selly, N., Josseran, L., & Schnitzler, A. (2018). Disability and health consequences of traumatic brain injury: national prevalence. American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation, 97(5), 323-331.
Peterson, A. B., Xu, L., Daugherty, J., & Breiding, M. J. (2019). Surveillance report of traumatic brain injury-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths, United States, 2014.
Dewan, M. C., Rattani, A., Gupta, S., Baticulon, R. E., Hung, Y. C., Punchak, M., … & Park, K. B. (2018). Estimating the global incidence of traumatic brain injury. Journal of neurosurgery, 130(4), 1080-1097.
O’Cathain, A., Croot, L., Duncan, E., Rousseau, N., Sworn, K., Turner, K. M., … & Hoddinott, P. (2019). Guidance on how to develop complex interventions to improve health and healthcare. BMJ Open, 9(8), e029954.
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