Impact of early intervention on outcome following mild head injury in adults: Written information is valuable to injured patients. (Mild Head Injury).(Brief Article)

In this issue, the paper "Impact of early intervention upon outcome following mild head injury in adults" by Pons-ford and colleagues (pp 330-2)' describes a valuable study addressing an important current issue in public health. The authors have made a strong case for the early use of a relatively inexpensive written information booklet in the management of patients with mild head injury. These findings thus reinforce the notion that many elements of emergency room counselling, albeit important, are likely to be forgotten by a patient under stress and particularly in the context of a recent concussion. Clinicians too often underappreciate thc therapeutic value of information …