Steering through Concussion Healthcare: Driving Recommendations and Management among Irish and Canadian Athletic Therapists
Driving requires continuous sensorimotor and cognitive coordination for extended time periods, and are commonly impaired domains post-concussion. The post-concussion driving management practices and opinions of healthcare providers such as athletic trainers/therapists (ATs) are essential for effective patient recommendations, but have yet to be examined outside of the United States. To examine post-concussion driving management practices and opinion among Irish and Canadian ATs, and to explore whether concussion assessments, highest earned degree, practice setting, or years of experience associates with post-concussion driving management practices. Cross-sectional Study. Online survey. Fifty-three Irish and 166 Canadian athletic therapists. A previously validated survey capturing demographics, self-reported management practices, and opinions for refraining (i.e., stop) and restricting (i.e., limiting) driving. The majority (50.9%) of Irish and Canadian ATs (69.9%) endorsed they “always” or “sometimes” recommended refraining from driving, respectively. Both cohorts commonly used verbal instructions (Irish ATs:86.8%; Canadian ATs:90.4%). Irish ATs (58.5%) favoured sideline assessments and Canadian ATs (56.6%) favoured clinical examinations to determine driving readiness. Despite agreeing or strongly agreeing that patients with a concussion pose a danger on the road (Irish ATs: 72%; Canadian ATs: 46.6%), approximately 10% of Irish and Canadian ATs reported “never” recommending driving restrictions. Weak correlations were observed between years of experience and the number of restrictions recommended for Irish and Canadian ATs (ρ range: −0.15, 0.05). We observed Irish and Canadian ATs overall have similar practices and opinions on post-concussion driving management. The lack of uniform recommendations and written instructions regarding safe return-to-driving management practices after concussion resulted in reliance on verbal advice. Our findings emphasise the need for clear and consistent guidelines related to driving after concussion.ABSTRACT
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