Impact of early intervention in the Emergency Department on post concussion symptoms in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI).

The Dutch Institute for Healthcare Improvement (CBO) guidelines, suggest that
providing MTBI patients with standardized written information in the early
phase in the emergency department, may positively influence the presence and
severity of post traumatic symptoms. However, there is a pausity of evidence
supporting this suggestion.

The goal of this trial is to evaluate the effect of standardized oral, written
and audiovisual information, given in the emergency department, on the
development and severity of post traumatic symptoms in patients with mild
traumatic brain injury after 1 week and 3 months.

Double-blind randomized controlled trial

Patients will be informed and requested for their informed consent. If
included, patients will be assigned to either an intervention or a control
group. Both groups will be provided with standardized basic information about
their treatment and follow-up. The intervention group will receive additional
extensive written and audiovisual information, containing background
information on MTBI and suggestions on possible coping strategies for post
traumatic complaints.

Included patients will have a longer stay of about 10-15 minutes on the
emergency department, due to logistical factors and the fact that they will
receive extra information from their treating physician. Further, patients
agree to be contacted by phone twice, for an interview of an estimated 20
minutes. There are no direct healthrisks associated with the participation of
this study. Patients receiving the additional information in the intervention
group, could possibly benefit from the positive effect on their post-traumatic
symptoms.