The Role Of Concussions In Public Health

When it comes to public health there are many controversies out there. Most of which are due to politics and money. Some of these battles are fought for the good and others are fought for the not so good but one thing is for certain. They will result in change. Today, I am going to look at the controversies that surround concussions in sports and prescription drug abuse. We will look at the battles that have been waged or are still going on and the reason for them. Let’s start with concussions in sports. A concussion occurs when an individual’s mental status changes as a result from trauma. Typically, a blow to the head. A person who shows signs of mental confusion including but not limited to dizziness, headache, fatigue, forgetfulness, and

The laws that were passed between 2009-2013 called Return to Play, have not been reviewed to see what the outcome of the steps taken have accomplished. Public health officials need to continue the research into concussions caused by sports to see if the steps taken are working or if there is something else that can be done to help prevent these injuries. Many other strides have been made as well in the prevention of head injury including the advancement of helmet technology and new regulations in different sports. For example, the NFL banned tackling an opponent with your head back in 1976 which decreased head injuries by

Parents, teachers and even doctors need to be better educated in knowing what to look for and how to prevent prescription drug abuse. Parents need to be taught that their medication is not safe in a medicine cabinet where kids can get a hold of it. They need to be taught safe storage and the proper way to dispose of medication especially controlled substances.7 There is an ad campaign out right now that I saw on TV today educating parents about the medications in their house and how dangerous it could be for an adolescent who is looking for meds. Doctors also need to be knowledgeable when it comes to prescribing medication. As stated above in my example, they need to be trained when pain medicine is warranted and when it is not. Also, how to recognize the signs of when someone maybe be approaching the line of misuse. Pertaining to children, more research needs to be conducted and programs need to be developed to prevent prescription drug abuse and misuse.8 Public health officials and school board officials need to work together to find programs that work and implement them to save our children.

Some systems have been implemented in other states that allow the government to review aspects of prescription medications. These systems identify if a patient is doctor shopping or if a doctor is mis-prescribing medications. They can also identify if a dispenser is selling drugs illegally or by the book. More research