TY - GEN
T1 - The military's approach to traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder
AU - Ling, Geoffrey S.F.
AU - Grimes, Jamie
AU - Ecklund, James M.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are common conditions. In Iraq and Afghanistan, explosive blast related TBI became prominent among US service members but the vast majority of TBI was still due to typical causes such as falls and sporting events. PTS has long been a focus of the US military mental health providers. Combat Stress Teams have been integral to forward deployed units since the beginning of the Global War on Terror. Military medical management of disease and injury follows standard of care clinical practice guidelines (CPG) established by civilian counterparts. However, when civilian CPGs do not exist or are not applicable to the military environment, new practice standards are created. Such is the case for mild TBI. In 2009, the VA-DoD CPG for management of mild TBI/concussion was published and a system-wide clinical care program for mild TBI/concussion was introduced. This was the first large scale effort on an entire medical care system to address all severities of TBI in a comprehensive organized way. In 2010, the VA-DoD CPG for management of PTSD was published. Nevertheless, both TBI and PTS are still incompletely understood. Investment in terms of money and effort has been committed by the DoD to their study. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, National Intrepid Center of Excellence and the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury are prominent examples of this effort. These are just beginnings, a work in progress ready to leverage advances made scientifically and always striving to provide the very best care to its military beneficiaries.
AB - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are common conditions. In Iraq and Afghanistan, explosive blast related TBI became prominent among US service members but the vast majority of TBI was still due to typical causes such as falls and sporting events. PTS has long been a focus of the US military mental health providers. Combat Stress Teams have been integral to forward deployed units since the beginning of the Global War on Terror. Military medical management of disease and injury follows standard of care clinical practice guidelines (CPG) established by civilian counterparts. However, when civilian CPGs do not exist or are not applicable to the military environment, new practice standards are created. Such is the case for mild TBI. In 2009, the VA-DoD CPG for management of mild TBI/concussion was published and a system-wide clinical care program for mild TBI/concussion was introduced. This was the first large scale effort on an entire medical care system to address all severities of TBI in a comprehensive organized way. In 2010, the VA-DoD CPG for management of PTSD was published. Nevertheless, both TBI and PTS are still incompletely understood. Investment in terms of money and effort has been committed by the DoD to their study. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, National Intrepid Center of Excellence and the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury are prominent examples of this effort. These are just beginnings, a work in progress ready to leverage advances made scientifically and always striving to provide the very best care to its military beneficiaries.
KW - acute stress reaction
KW - combat and operational stress reaction
KW - concussion
KW - guidelines
KW - post-traumatic stress disorder
KW - traumatic brain injury
KW - treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84907048276&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1117/12.2058740
DO - 10.1117/12.2058740
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84907048276
SN - 9781628410495
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - Sensing Technologies for Global Health, Military Medicine, and Environmental Monitoring IV
PB - SPIE
T2 - Sensing Technologies for Global Health, Military Medicine, and Environmental Monitoring IV
Y2 - 5 May 2014 through 7 May 2014
ER -