Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Overview

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and definitions related to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) concepts.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Injury to the brain from an external force.

Mild TBI

Also referred to as a concussion; loss of consciousness and/or confusion for less than 30 minutes.

Moderate TBI

Loss of consciousness lasting 30 minutes to 24 hours and may include a skull fracture.

Severe TBI

Loss of consciousness for more than 24 hours and memory loss after the injury for more than 24 hours.

Open Head Injury

When the skull is penetrated, involving focal damage to a small part of the brain.

Closed Head Injury

Does not involve penetration of the skull; results in focal and diffuse damage.

Diffuse Axonal Injury

A common TBI occurring over a widespread area due to acceleration/deceleration or impact.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

Neurodegenerative disease from repetitive, forceful impacts to the head.

Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)

Measures eye movement, verbal responses, and motor responses to track recovery.

Rancho Los Amigos Scale

Scale to identify levels of consciousness and cognitive functioning in TBI patients.

Assist Levels

Levels of assistance required for activities; ranges from total assist to stand-by assistance.

Motor Impairments associated with TBI

Includes abnormal muscle tone, ataxia, weakness, and poor postural control.

Cognitive Impairments associated with TBI

Includes deficits in memory, attention, reasoning, and mental flexibility.

Behavioral Impairments

Includes low frustration tolerance, agitation, and emotionally labile behavior.

Visual Impairments

Includes blurred vision, double vision, and difficulty with visual tracking.

Sensory/Perceptual Impairments

Includes loss of proprioception and diminished light touch or sharp/dull sensation.

Level 1:

Unconscious Total assist The person is unconscious and doesn’t react to anything.

Level 2:

General Response Total assist They react slowly to sounds, touch, or pain but not in a specific way.

Level 3:

Local Response Total assist They react more directly to stimuli, like turning toward a voice or pulling away from pain.

Level 4:

Confused and Agitated Max A at har, and will say inappropritae thing short attn span

Level 5:

Confused, Not Agitated Max A inapproatitate Max A no harm but can say weird things

Level 6:

Confused, Appropriate Max A confused approriate no harm but need to watch out

Level 7:

Automatic, Appropriate Mod A decreased social awareness with minimum confusion Mod A

Level 8:

Purposeful and appropriate response to some reasoning skills and retains new task learned with SBA to min A

Level 9:

Purposeful and appropriate They can do most things on their own but may still need help in tough situations.Attn span 2 hours good with familiar task from memory SBA

Level 10:

Purposeful and appropriate can problem-solve complex problems with Mod independently