Assessing Severity of Traumatic Brain Injury in Life Care Planning

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when a force vector applied to the head or skull results in displacement of the brain within the cranial vault and is associated with either loss of consciousness, post-traumatic amnesia, disorientation, confusion, or focal or diffuse neurological signs (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The prevalence of TBIs in the United States has grown exponentially over the past decade. Traumatic brain injury incidence rates rose from 521 per 100,000 in 2001 to 823.7 per 100,000 in 2010 (Faul, Xu, Wald & Coronado 2010a). Accordingly, a 2010 estimate from the Centers for Disease Control concluded that TBIs resulted in nearly 2.5 million hospital visits in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). This estimate, however, does not account for those who did not receive medical care, had outpatient or office-based visits, or those who received care at a federal facility, such as a Veterans Affairs hospital (Faul, Xu, Wald & Coronado, 2010b).