Can Medical Technology Reverse the Effects of Traumatic Brain Injuries - Research Paper Example

Can Medical Technology Reverse The Effects Of Traumatic Brain Injuries? This paper reviews to understand the role of the medical technology in providing remedy for traumatic brain injuries. In this attempt, it looks at the various categories of the traumatic brain injuries right from the actual physical injuries sustained to that which is secondarily caused because of the pressure and discomfort rendered. In knowing the role of medical technology in this case, this paper considers selected cases of brain injuries and assesses their situation after medical attention to conclude whether the results are beneficial or not. This consideration attempts to answer the question of whether the technological advancement in the medicine field able to give remedy in such cases. Given the delicate nature of the brain, this paper in also tries to understand the challenges met in giving those remedies and the ration of the patients that successfully undergo the processes. The veracity and effectiveness of the medical attention is also looked into and conclusions made. As a cardinal principle rule in medicine, victims of various category of ailment administered for specific drugs have to handle the dangers associated with the medicinal side effects, this is also widely exhausted in the paper. The possible side effects of giving remedy in cases of traumatic brain injury is also assessed to account for the safety of the process in an effort to wholly answer the question the efficacy the process. Introduction Brain is one of the most sensitive parts of the body given its role; it forms part of the central nervous system of the body, which essentially controls all the activities of the body including interpretation of the information relayed to it (Zollman, 2011). In the body, the brain plays the role played by engine in vehicles; nothing can happen without its optimal operation. It is such delicacy of the brain that questions are asked if indeed the advancement in the medical technology can render solution to such cases because otherwise, it will be a rule that everybody who is traumatize din the brain is paralyzed, either incapacitated mentally or will die (Bass and Golding, 2012). Not all the options are demonstrating normal physiological and physical status of the brain; thus, it is important that the issue is critically studies and reported. Also known as the intracranial injury, traumatic brain injury is resulted when there occurs an external force that affects the brain, injuries associated with the brain are classified in terms of severity, location or the mechanism involved. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a world major contributor to disability and death (Ashley, 2004); demographically, this is frequently observed in children and the old people; moreover, falls, violence and motorcar accidents are some of the routes through TBI can be sustained. The consequences of TBI are numerous ranging from complete remedy to irreversible disability and death. Remarkable improvements in diagnosing and treatment of TBI were realized in the 20th century, and this has seen great improvement is prevention of death and disability to the victims (Bass and Golding, 2012). These developments brings confidence that with much academic research put into place, more knowledge will brought forth and the problem of TBI remedy will be a thing of the past. Methodology The data related to this research was collected in a hospital environment-the department that deals with those who have suffered brain trauma and brain injuries. This ostensibly is from the fact that most of those with such medical attention are admitted through such departments. In the hospital after the necessary procedure and warrant of the right to carry out research in the hospital setting, I was able to consider patient with traumatic brain injury with the help of the doctor in charge and make a follow up of the patient in terms of the progress realized until discharge form hospital. It is also important to site that the sample size considered in this research was 179 spread across eight hospitals in six states-this was to enhance the reliability of the data for not only concentrating in one hospital setting. Important demographic considerations of the patients were also taken including age and gender. This was important in knowing the gender and at was age is brain injury most complicated. Several issues were involved in assessing the recovery process of the patients given the possible outcome enumerated above. For the possibility of the mental disorder resulting, the patients were monitored for a period with the aid of the doctor to determine whether physical injury has been completely attended to evaluate the patient on mental status only. The mental status of the patient was been gauged n cognitive basis-their ability to recognize and behave normally to the immediate environment. Therefore, in order to account for deaths related to TBI, all the medical attentions given to the patient were considered and in cases of complicated status, such patients were not involved in the final tally of those to be used in making decision about the treatment of the traumatic brain injury. A classical example in this case will be those who have hard TBI and well as damage on other parts of the body probably due to accidents. Such patients following postmortem shows that, the cause of death is because of multiple reasons that cannot be attributed to any of the injured body parts alone. Such cases according to this research were considered able to give impartial results and conclusions. The patients who have shown absolute brain injury were the only considered candidates for the purpose of this research. Following this close monitoring for approved patients throughout their stay in hospital until recovery or not, a decision was easy to make whether medical technology has become of age to reverse the effects of the traumatic brain injury in patients. The methodology used in this case was qualitative and not quantitative, results of the study were analyzed impartially, correctly, and professionally to communicate the most authentic position of the situation with medication in this case. Results Following the method of collecting the data in this research, the patients considered were casted as those wild mild, average, and severe injuries. Those with mild and average injuries on the brain all fully recovered through the medical attention given in the hospital. The principle behind the classification the patient was based on the extent of the injury and the location, this decision was arrived into by the medical report related to the patients. The patients that were classified to have sustained severe brain injury showed varied response to treatment and medication, this is because they either had some other external and internal injuries that coupled with the brain injury and resulted into death or other disability other than mental that can be construed to have culminated from brain injury. Other deaths resulted from specific physical impact on the brain and not the traumatic effect; those that resulted from such circumstances were not used for the final consideration of having resulted from TBI. Following the samples considered for the study and that showed TBI, it can be construed that medical technology has been improved to completely reverse the effect of TBI and render life once again to the victims. In as much as this is so, it is important to note that the time span within which the patient is taken to the hospital for medical attention is very critical determinant whether the patient can be helped or not. The brain is very sensitive and its operation is rapidly impaired if no serious medical attention is given and this can lead to the condition of the patient aggravating beyond salvage. As such, these factors can give misleading information that TBI is irreversible in the context of medical attention. Such cases were considered outliers and were not used in making the final decision with regard to the central theme the research sought to answer. -they could give incorrect results. The entire patient who met the prerequisite for admission in hospital without any fault realized steady improvement following the medical attention; this shows the possibility of medical technology sufficiently taking care of such conditions. The concern as to whether medical technology can reverse the trauma experience in the brain is thus resolved-it is true and factual that such medical complication can be attended to sufficiently given the advancement in the medical fields. Medical developments have experienced exponential expansion to embrace such requirement, the findings of the research indicate. Discussions During the treatment of TBI, the focus given by the doctors to the patient at the time of the admission is to prevent the consequences of the brain damage spreading to the rest of the body that is not experiencing the problem (Varney and Roberts, 1999); this is in appreciation of the role of the brain in the body. This first response is responsible for the prevention of secondary complications emerging, at this stage, a couple of factors are considered ranging from confirming that there is proper oxygen gas intake, efficient flow of blood in the brain, and ensuring stability of the blood pressure (Koehler, 2011). In the meantime, any other problem in any part of the body that may aggravate the condition of the body is given attention too. Following the series of attention to the patient and stability realized they are then put on a detailed treatment action plan, which involves how to cope with the symptoms related to the injury. A scale referred to as Glasgow Coma is used to assess severity of the TBI, it gauges and individual degree of consciousness in a spread scale of 3-15 with a keen observation on eye opening, motor, and verbal reaction to stimuli exposure. A TBI patient that shows a Glasgow Coma Scale (GSC) of 13 and above is considered mild; those between 9 and 12 are moderate while those that fall in the category of eight and below are categorized as severe (Sundstrom, 2012). The need for these classifications is to help give appropriate medical attention to the patients. The severity of the TBI will dictate the action plan to be given to the patient with reference to treatments. Typically, the team designed for TBI treatment does consist of a physical therapist who is tasked with the responsibility of enabling the patient to resume flexibility, coordination, and motion range (Silver, McAllister and Yudofsky, 2005). He also addresses stiffness and pain related to the TBI. The occupational therapist will make it possible once again for the patient to perform daily chores. Neuropsychologists will in this case will be helpful to the team providing healthcare to the patient identify areas where cognitive development are not fully achieved and help in designing strategies to realize the deficit. Within the plan, also a psychiatrist is responsible for enabling the patient to take charge of their emotional, cognitive, and behavioral tendencies (Silver, McAllister and Yudofsky, 2005). TBI as evidenced in this paper is only reversible following highly integrated approaches from different specialists Conclusion In pursuit of the research, it has come to my attention that several factors come into play in determining success of the medical attention to the patient. That is why it is possible to claim that the advancement in the medical technology still is not sufficient to handle the complications presented by TBI. Time span by which one is taken to the hospital for medical care take precedent in determining the success of the process, the brain has a complicated anatomy that is rendered failure within the shortest time is the condition remain unattended to. An individual psychological response to the condition is equally important, those with weak psychology are likely not to respond well to the medication and may jeopardize the fact the condition is within the scope of medical expertise. It is worth appreciating that traumatic brain injury is a serious medical condition that is nearly fatal and it should be given rapid and special care to realize favorable results. Even though the medication of TBI is achievable, research are still ongoing to improve efficiency and reliability of the processes involved just like in any other field of study that is in the academic domain every time. References Ashley, M. J. (2004). Traumatic brain injury: rehabilitative treatment and case management (2nd ed.). Boca Raton: CRC Press. Bass, E., & Golding, H. L. (2012). The Veterans Health Administrations treatment of PTSD and traumatic brain injury among recent combat veterans. Washington, DC: Congress of the United States, Congressional Budget Office. Koehler, R. (2011). Cognitive rehabilitation therapy for traumatic brain injury evaluating the evidence. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Silver, J. M., McAllister, T. W., & Yudofsky, S. C. (2005). Textbook of traumatic brain injury. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub. Sundstrom, T. (2012). Management of severe traumatic brain injury evidence, tricks, and pitfalls. Berlin: Springer. Varney, N. R., & Roberts, R. J. (1999). The evaluation and treatment of mild traumatic brain injury. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Zollman, F. S. (2011). Manual of traumatic brain injury management. New York, NY: Demos Medical Pub. Read More