As a coach, you have 10 legal duties to the athletes that you coach, one of which is to evaluate for injury. Along with that goes evaluating athletes for suspected head injuries. With the current state of athletics being what it is, you cannot afford to make light of any contacts to the head. Failure to evaluate your athletes sets you, and your school, up for potential lawsuits.

In the state of New York, any suspected head injury needs to evaluated and cleared by a physician. This rule was developed in order to protect the athletes playing sports and to make the job of the coach easier; any athlete with any mechanism of potential head trauma with any symptoms of concussion are to be treated as concussed; they are to discontinue play, be monitored for signs of concussion and referred to a doctor for further evaluation, management and treatment.

Many of us have grown up playing sports in an era where we were told to walk it off, that it was just a ding and nothing further was done. That is no longer the case. You cannot afford to ignore insults to the head if you coach athletics. It is better to play it safe than risk the health of the athletes you coach and your career.

The article below serves as a reminder for all who coach and describes the potential consequences of not evaluating athletes who are hit in the head.

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/athlete-safety/concussion-protocol-failure-can-bring-negligence-claim.html?eid=277204494&bid=1499059

Most States have concussion management programs in place, but they focus on high school athletes. This has left some confusion for non athletes or younger students who suffer a concussion. There is nothing special about the management of concussion for athletes or non athletes. It is rest until symptom free with a graded return to activity. The majority of students recover in 7-10 days and do not require any school accommodations.

The challenge is in handling the outliers. What to do with the ones that don't get better. We know that girls take longer to heal than boys and that younger students take longer than older students. We do not know definitively why this is the case, but there is some speculation.  If any individual sustains a head impact and a concussion is suspected it should be evaluated by a qualified medical professional. If they are taking longer to heal then accommodations for school may be suggested. This can be in the form of half days, limited homework and testing, the use of a tutor or physical changes like lower light and decreased computer screen use. All of these can be put in place by the school, but should be overseen by the physician.

I don't think that anything different needs to be done to handle concussions across the board, but more education and policy development may be needed so that everyone understands what to do.

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/civil-actions/legislation-would-toughen-concussion-law.html?eid=277204494&bid=1290676