Response of School Districts to the New York State Concussion Awareness and Management Act: Review of Policies and Procedures.

BACKGROUND: By 2014, all states implemented concussion laws that schools must translate into daily practice; yet, limited knowledge exists regarding implementation of these laws. We examined the extent to which concussion management policies and procedure (P&P) documents of New York State school districts comply with the State's Concussion Awareness and Management Act (the Act). We also aimed to identify barriers to compliance. METHODS: Forty-seven school districts provided P&P documents. We examined compliance with the Act and the relationship between compliance and each district's demographics. RESULTS: Compliance varied across school districts, with higher overall compliance in large city school districts compared to county districts. However, there was low compliance for several critical items. We found no statistically significant relationship between compliance and demographics. CONCLUSIONS: School districts need to increase compliance with concussion legislation to ensure the adequate implementation necessary for the law to impact health and educational outcomes. The results provide important information to individuals charged with the responsibility of implementation and ultimately reducing the negative outcomes associated with brain injuries in schools.

Current issues in neurolaw.

Traumatic brain injury has received significant attention in recent years. Advances in diagnosis and management have resulted in opportunities to improve patient outcomes; however, controversies in diagnosis and management have resulted in increased interactions between the medical and legal communities. This article highlights some of the areas of controversy in traumatic brain injury litigation with the hope that synchronous resolutions of both legal and medical issues will ultimately benefit patient care. It is imperative that the neuroscience community engage the legal community to facilitate an understanding of the issues and their ramifications. Proactive communication and understanding between medical and legal specialties offer the potential to maximize efficiencies in our health care and legal systems.