Switching Time By Michael Paul Mason: Literary Analysis

Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, occurs when there is a sudden, direct injury to the head. This type of wound can result from a bump, blow, or jolt to the cranium. It may even result from the penetration of a foreign object into the brain tissue. Most TBI’s result from car accidents, sports injuries, blunt trauma, unintentional injuries and falls, with falls accounting for about 40% of all TBI injuries. Much like stroke patients, individuals suffering from traumatic brain injuries may have to live with a variety of detriments based on the location and extent of their injury. For example, patients can experience impaired sensation, vision, hearing, memory, processing skills or even emotional and behavioral functioning ("Injury Prevention & Control: Traumatic Brain Injury.”) The purpose of this paper is to provide information regarding the pathophysiology, treatment and medical management of traumatic brain injuries, as well as to educate health care providers of the additional ways in which support can be provided to both patients suffering from these types of injuries and their families. A case study will be supplied to facilitate discussion of the topic.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traumatic brain injury is one of the leading causes of disability and death in the United States. Approximately 30 percent of all injury deaths are caused by a TBI. The CDC states that from 2006 to 2010, vehicle crashes were the second leading cause (26 percent) of traumatic brain injury deaths. One common TBI is the diffuse axonal injury, making up approximately 50 percent of all severe traumatic brain injuries.

Farrow (2004) explains that “A traumatic brain injury is caused by a blow to the head, face, or neck area…” (p.53). It is an injury to the brain that causes an immediate change in brain function, which includes a loss of consciousness (Levy, 1993). You do not have to be knocked unconscious in order to sustain a traumatic brain injury (The Franklin Institute, 2004). The term traumatic brain injury (TBI) refers to injuries to the brain that are caused by some form of traumatic impact. A blow to the head, violent shaking or penetration of the brain tissue usually causes traumatic brain injuries. This is due to sudden, non-congenital physical damage to the brain from an external force that temporarily or permanently disrupts normal brain function. Brain characteristics and functions that can be affected include consciousness, speech and language, memory, mobility, personality and others. Depending on the cause and severity of the brain injury, brain damage can be mild, moderate or severe. In more serious cases , complications can be fatal. While the severity of traumatic brain injuries varies, the long-term affects are often devastating and life altering. Because the brain controls all bodily functions, any damage to the brain, regardless of severity, can impair physical and psychological activity (Rehberg,

Phineas Gage, a 25 year old construction worker is known as one of the most famous patients that suffered from a traumatic brain injury. While working at a railroad site, an iron tamping rod (43 inches long, 1.25 diameter) went through his left cheek, through his brain, and out the skull. He surprisingly ended up surviving this traumatic injury. After a month in the hospital, he was back out on the street. Once a nice, caring person, Phineas turned into an aggressive man who could not even keep a job. Just like Phineas Gage, a TBI can potentially change everything. Brain studies on traumatic brain injuries are increasing every year. Even though the brain is very functional, brain injuries can have many physical, emotional, social, and

According to the Center for Disease Control, every year approximately 1.4 million people are victims of a traumatic brain injury (Reeves and Panguluri, 2011). Furthermore, the World Health Organization estimates that traumatic brain injuries will be the leading cause of death by the year 2020 (Ganesalingam et al, 2006). Although this is pervasive societal issue, the vast majority of experiments on this issue focuses on adults, although fatalities are higher amongst adolescents. As a result of their injury, children with traumatic brain injuries experience cognitive deficits which hamper their academic, social and behavioral functionalities. The following literature review examines the causes of traumatic brain injuries in adolescents, behavioral

Phineas Gage, a 25 year old construction worker is known as one of the most famous patients that suffered from a traumatic brain injury. While working at a railroad site, an iron tamping rod (43 inches long, 1.25 diameter) went through his left cheek, through his brain, and out the skull. He surprisingly ended up surviving this traumatic injury. After a month in the hospital, he was back out on the street. Once a nice, caring person, Phineas turned into an aggressive man who could not even keep a job. Just like Phineas Gage, a TBI can potentially change everything. Brain studies on traumatic brain injuries are increasing every year. Even though the brain is very functional, brain injuries can have many physical, emotional, social, and

Medicine is not the only way to deal with psychological disorders. Many psychological disorders are better handled with therapy rather than medicine. Therapy is a way to help people with psychological disorders to live a normal lfe no matter what their state of mind of their psychological situation might be. Taking therapy has many good and promising results in the patient. Therapy can teach the patients to get to know themselves deeper and to find out what they are really feeling, what makes them feel of act a certain way and analyze why they respond the way they do. People can learn to not let their psychological disorder take over their lives and affect their relationships with other people. Many have learned how to keep some mental disorders under control just by taking

“Traumatic brain injury can result in longterm or lifelong physical, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional consequences” (US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1998).

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) have been shown to have a great impact on several specific structures in the brain of both immediate and long-term damage. Often preoccupation can be focused into the immediate outcomes. The immediate concerns of TBI are without doubt important but this often creates ignorance in terms of the long-term consequences that may follow an individual impacted by TBI into subsequent years. As one will come to recognize, this is of particular concern in terms of children who survive TBI. It was once believed that due to development, children were less vulnerable to TBI in comparison to mature, adult brains but research of childhood TBI has found this conjecture to be false (Beauchamp et al., 2011). As discussed in

Traumatic Brain injury, or TBI, is a common, yet extremely dangerous, type of injury. “In 2010, about 2.5 million emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, or deaths were associated with TBI—either alone or in combination with other injuries—in the United States” (CDC). Traumatic Brain injury is usually defined as a violent shaking that occurs within the brain and it often occurs when there is a direct hit to the head or body. TBI “can affect motor, sensory, cognitive, and behavioral functioning” (AOTA), making daily tasks challenging or ultimately somewhat impossible. TBI’s are commonly classified by severity of the injury; mild being “a brief change in mental status or consciousness” and severe meaning

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when there is a damage in the brain a result of physical trauma. TBI may be caused by a penetrating (open) head injury, in which an object pierces the skull and enters the brain tissue, or a closed head injury, in which the skull is not breached, and frequently results in the major long-term disability of individuals surviving head injuries.(7) Cranial firearm wounds often result in severe injury to the brain and related central nervous system (CNS) structures.(17). Although penetrating head trauma is less prevalent than closed head trauma, PBI carries a worse prognosis with high morbidity and mortality rates. Understanding of the mechanisms of injury and aggressive medical management with rapid surgical intervention may lead to improved outcomes.(8)

A TBI can be split into types of injuries, a primary injury and a secondary injury (Greve & Zink, 2009). A primary injury occurs at the time of mechanical force impacting the head. Injuries such as these can include concussions, contusions, intracranial haemorrhages, skull fractures, axonal injuries and brain tissue damage (Corrigan, Selassie & Orman, 2010). A secondary injury is an injury that occurs post-impact, usually showing signs and symptoms a few hours after the injury. These injuries can include loss of cell function, disruption of calcium homeostasis, ischaemic injuries and intracranial hypertension (Werner & Engelhard, 2007). There are very minimal treatments for a TBI, and injuries often remain permanent, requiring long-term medical support. The treatments that do exist are usually focused on reducing secondary effects as primary injures are generally too severe (Werner & Engelhard,

Recovery is a long ongoing process, based on many mechanisms that remain uncertain for an extended period of time. TBIs are also unique because no brain injury is like another, and the consequence of two almost identical injuries may be completely different depending on the person. Symptoms may appear almost immediately or may not present themselves for days or weeks after the initial injury. Individuals of all ages, background, and health status are susceptible to TBI. This paper will discuss the pathophysiology of TBI, nursing care management, and community resources available in WNY for individuals who suffer from TBI. There will also be three evidence based research articles summarized regarding TBI. The articles are as follows: Managing Patients with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury by Devon Lump;(ADD ANOTHER ARTICLE); and Understanding the Pathophysiology of Traumatic Brain Injury and the Mechanisms of Action of Neuroprotective Interventions by

According to the International Brain Injury Association, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading source of childhood injury. In the United States of America, 473, 947 children between the ages of 0-14 years visited the emergency department for a traumatic brain injury. When diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, an individual can be classified in two different ways. The first classification is mild, and numerous traumatic brain injuries are classified as so. Although this level of injury isn’t the most severe, it is still associated with ongoing problems. Following mild, the next classification of traumatic brain injury falls under moderate-severe. Despite many traumatic brain injuries being classified as mild, a significant number of children

Brain injuries are detrimental to the human psyche and if traumatic enough, then it can also be detrimental to daily function. As horrible as it seems “Approximately 75% of traumatic brain injuries seen in emergency departments are mild cases. Annually approximately 70,000 people who have TBI experience permanent damage” (Your Best Resource for Brain Injury). Brain injuries are common and can be permanent. People receive trauma to the brain quite often; there are a lot of athletes who are suffering from these injuries and it has become too broad of an amount of people who are suffering from brain injuries. From mild concussions to Traumatic Brain Injuries, brain trauma is very important to pay attention to. Brain injuries can be so dangerous that it ends up in death or some variation of life skill impairment. There is a career that evaluates brain behavior after these injuries--Neuropsychologists. As a neuropsychologist, they evaluate the relationship between human behaviors and the brain. Neuropsychologists use test and assessments to evaluate brain injuries, although some tests may be invalid due to the test taker; this is common in sports because the athletes just want to continue to play and get back to the game.