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It is common for head injury patients to be seen by many medical professionals and treatment therapists over time. Here are some of them. Each discipline is listed alphabetically.
Cosmetic Surgeon
This doctor will work on removing or lessening the effects of any scarring. For a lot of head-injured patients, doctors like to wait for 6 to 9 months before they send you to a cosmetic surgeon to remove scars that may have developed. Cosmetic surgeons can do some remarkably good work at removing scars. For example, some scars may be red or slightly raised or bumpy. The surgeon can go in and lighten or diminish some scars so they are barely noticeable.
Dietician
A dietitian or nutritionist may sometimes get involved in your case. Following a head injury, you may not be as physically active as you used to be. It is common for people to gain weight following a head injury. The dietician or nutritionist will assist with a healthier diet and losing the extra weight and maintaining a weight more appropriate to you.
Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor (ENT)
In a car accident, you may injure your nose or take a blow to the front part of your head. Many people experience some difficulty breathing through their nose because the cartilage in the nose has been damaged. They may snore a lot more, or they may have multiple intermittent sinus infections. As a result, you may be sent to an ear, nose and throat physician.
General Physician
A good way of thinking about this physician is to look at what is inside your body (dealing with your guts and organs).This area deals with the complex interaction of systems inside your body. This doctor is usually a consultant rather than someone who follows your care from start to finish.
Neurologist
This is a physician you’re likely to see following a head injury. A neurologist deals with the brain and nerves. The most common problems that neurologists deal with is headaches and seizures. The neurologist may give you a test called an EEG. This measures electrical activity in your brain to see if something abnormal is going on. If you do have a seizure, the neurologist is likely to give you anti- seizure medications to help control seizures.
Neuropsychologist
A neuropsychologist is a psychologist (See Psychologist) with advanced training in how brain injures can affect behavior. The neuropsychologist gives tests that are very sensitive to the effects of a brain injury.
This testing will locate areas of the brain that may be damaged. Many neuropsychologists are also involved in planning treatment strategies to improve thinking in damaged areas of the brain. Because recovering from a head injury is extremely stressful, some neuropsychologists also do counseling to help the head-injured person and family members to deal with the recovery process.
Neurosurgeon
This is a surgeon who performs surgery on your brain or nerves, if necessary. In the early stages, you may have a bruise on your brain. If too much pressure is on the brain, important parts of the brain can stop working (e.g., parts that control breathing or being awake). In the early phases of a head injury, a neurosurgeon may be needed to stop pressure build up due to bleeding in the brain. Because they are surgically skilled they tend not to follow brain-injured people over long periods of time. You may be referred to another doctor, most likely a neurologist, for your long-term care.
Nurses
Nurses are there to carry out medical orders and apply medical treatments. They interact with you daily. They get you up, they give you medications, and they’ll chart how you are doing. Nurses cannot prescribe medications; that must be done by a physician. There are nurses who have gone for additional training and have become specialist nurses in the field of traumatic brain injury.
Occupational Therapist
When many people hear the word "occupation", they think that means "getting a job." Although occupational therapists can help with returning to work, they tend to deal with activities you
do every day. An occupational therapist (OT) helps you to adapt to any aspect of your life with more independence, confidence and control. Considering your own views, and those living with you, carefully, OTs assess your abilities to perform activities and design treatment programmes to increase your capability to tackle difficulties. Treatment programmes vary greatly according to your individual needs and often involve environmental modifications. OTs then evaluate your progress and suggest any necessary changes to your treatment programme.
Ophthalmologist
This is an eye doctor. Following an accident, some people will have a change in their vision. Vision can become blurry, doubled (seeing two of everything), or have missing areas. The ophthalmologist has training in vision problems caused by a brain injury. If your vision has changed, you may go to an optometrist (the person that prescribes spectacles for you). A blow to the head can produce changes in your vision. Following a head injury, some people may go through 2 or 3 pairs of glasses in one year. Immediately after the accident, their vision can be very poor, then improves with time, and improves again.
Walking and movement means freedom. The physiotherapist is a key person in returning physical ability. This is often very painful work. Re-learning movement, or getting your arm or leg to fully extend (called "range of movement"), is often very difficult and can take long periods of time)
Psychiatrist (also Neuro-Psychiatrist)
A psychiatrist is a physician who works with people who have emotional or behavioral problems of whatever cause. Neuro-psychiatrists work with people whose problems have been caused by a neurological insult e.g. a head injury. They often give medications to help assist people in dealing with intense emotions or behavior. In the early phases of hospitalization, the head-injured person can be very confused and agitated. If someone is confused to point of hitting the nurses or being threatening, medications may be prescribed to help calm the patient down. Later in the recovery process, people can become depressed and a psychiatrist may also use medications to help cope with this.
Psychologist (also Neuro-Psychologist)
A psychologist is not a physician, so does not prescribe medications. A psychologist works with behavior and coping. In the hospital environment, the psychologist has several roles. One role is testing. Psychologists have developed standardized tests to measure things like intelligence. The psychologist may also be called in to help the head-injured person cope with emotions or control behavior, or to help the family deal with different aspects of the recovery process.
Radiologist (also Neuro-Radiologist)
This is a physician who specializes in looking at X-rays, CT Scans or MRI’s. He or she is involved with diagnosing problems using X-ray or other imaging equipment. They look at the X-ray or CT Scan and then send a report to your treating physician.
Speech and Language Therapist
The role of a speech and language therapist is to assess and treat speech, language and communication problems in people of all ages to enable them to communicate to the best of their ability. They may also work with people who have eating and swallowing problems. Such problems may become apparent following a head injury. With a head-injured individual, the speech therapist may work on attention, memory, organization, planning, and sequencing, as well as things like reading comprehension and writing skills. They also specialize in teaching memory strategies (one of the classic problems in head injury).
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