Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Recommendations: Impact on Care and Lessons Learned

Over 330,000 service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) since 2000. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) is uniquely positioned to identify knowledge gaps and disseminate information related to TBI to assist service members, clinical providers, and military families. The DVBIC utilizes a standardized process based on Institutes of Medicine and World Health Organization recommendations for the development of evidenced-based clinical guidelines. This presentation provided an overview of the need and process for developing TBI-specific clinical recommendations (CRs) related to diagnosis and treatment issues, and the lessons learned throughout their development. The development of CRs provides evidence-based, standardized guidance for symptom management and treatment recommendations following TBI. Included within the DVBIC process are site-specific adjustments that address the needs and requirements of our military stakeholders, including the operational challenges of the deployed setting. The identification of the need for TBI diagnosis and treatment guidelines within the Military Health System and the consideration of military service-specific and Department of Defense policy are integrated within an evidenced-based, systematic CR development process.