When should parents bring their kids to the emergency room after a head injury (traumatic brain injury [TBI])?

Children often fall off beds, changing tables, and downstairs. Older children hit their heads on the fields or on concrete after falling off bikes or roller skates. Those are just a few occasions when children fall and hit their heads. 

Some falls are minor head injuries, but some falls require medical treatment immediately.

When is it necessary for parents to bring their kids to the emergency room after a head injury? How do they know what is a minor or serious injury?

According to Mary E. Aitken, lead author in a survey of what physicians do when a head injury involves little or no loss of consciousness nor behavioral changes says the first thing parents need to do after a fall is find out what happened. Aitken goes on to say that in situation involving anything other than the usual minor blow to the head call a doctor and watch your child for the following symptoms within the next 36 hours:

Nausea

Vomiting

Dizziness

Headache

Loss of consciousness

Seizures

Lethargy

Irritability

Swelling

Bruising

Bleeding  

Memory loss

The key to effective medical treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI) is often speedy evaluation. The experienced brain injury attorneys at Roswold Law Group encourage parents to be particularly vigilant to these injuries and get fast medical attention whenever necessary, as it can be the difference between life and death.