caregiver tip - Traumatic Brain Injury Council

MEASURES OF
SEVERITY OF TBI
Medical professionals use some common severity scales to describe TBIs.
Because you may hear these, it is important for you to understand what they
are and what they are not.
• What they are—A rating of severity is necessary for medical
professionals to record the injury right after it happens, decide on
medical treatments, track changes following treatments, and get paid
for medical services.
• What they are not—Early severity ratings have been found NOT to
be very good at predicting problems that may develop later or how
much time or what the path will be to recovery.
Over time, a TBI survivor may do better or worse than predicted at first.
Some reasons include:
• The problems (symptoms) will be different depending on whether
damage is focal (focused in one or a few limited areas), or diffuse
(spread throughout the brain).
• Complicated interactions take place among different parts of the
brain. Parts of the brain that have less damage, or that recover
quickly, may try to take over for a more damaged part with
unpredictable results.
♥ CAREGIVER TIP
The truth is, there is much we still don’t know about the brain and its
ability to recover after injury. The best attitude toward recovery is
hope, balanced with realism.
COMMON RATINGS OF SEVERITY
Medical professionals may rate a TBI as “mild,” “moderate,” or “severe”
based on whether the person lost consciousness and for how long.
• Mild TBI is defined as loss of consciousness for 15 minutes or less,
any loss of memory surrounding the trauma event, or an altered
mental state such as feeling dazed, disoriented, or confused. It may
also be referred to as a “concussion.” It is estimated that up to 75%
of TBIs are initially rated as mild.
• Moderate TBI is defined as loss of consciousness lasting between
15 minutes and a few hours, followed by a few days or weeks of
mental confusion. About 10-25% of TBIs are rated moderate.
M ODULE 1
PAGE 10