Colleges and universities around the country are also taking concussions more seriously. Last year, the NCAA enacted a new policy requiring all of its member schools to have a concussion management policy in place. At minimum, each school's plan must have the following:
- Provide student-athletes annually with education about the signs and symptoms of concussions and require they acknowledge they have received that information and understand they are required to report any concussion signs or symptoms to medical staff.
- Ensure any student-athlete exhibiting signs of a concussion is immediately removed from game, practice, or other activity for evaluation by medical staff with experience evaluating concussions.
- Preclude any student-athlete diagnosed with a concussion from returning to game, practice or other activity for at least the remained of that day,
- Require that clearance to return to play or practice following a concussion be made by a physician or physician's designee.
Athletic medical staff at Delaware State University and the University of Delaware welcomed the creation of a standardized policy across the NCAA.
DSU's new head athletic trainer Lori Leary has worked for 14 years in the sports medicine and athletic training field - most recently at LaSalle and Roanoke College. She says most athletic trainers feel having the NCAA set standards is "a blessing".
"[Before] it always fell on the athletic trainer and those guidelines were varied for many years as to what constituted a concussion and what constituted [a proper situation] to return to play," said Leary. " Now that it's uniform, it's amazing because we're cutting down on 'second impact syndrome.' We're not having as many second and third concussions because we're handing the first ones correctly - taking [athletes] out of play and giving it to the doctors to make the decision."
Dr. Andrew Reisman is in his sixth year as the University of Delaware's sports medicine physician and has been the school's Assistant Director of Athletics for Sports Medicine since 2008.
"It's real important to have the support of the governing body," said Dr. Reisman "College athletics, professional athletics high school athletics, the goal is always to win. There's a pressure to get somebody back in there. Sometimes, people can be tempted to cave to that pressure. For me, its easy [now] to go to the coach and say it's in the best interest of the student and NCAA regulation, they're out. There's no question. There's no argument. So it helps to have that [policy] firmly in place."
DFM News discussed how DSU and UD handle concussions at length with Leary and Dr. Reisman. You can see what each had to say below:
Concussion Policy in Collegiate Sports
DFM News asked members of the medical staffs at Delaware State Univ. and the University of Delaware how they handle concussions
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