1. Danielle Taylor
Boston University Class of 2016
Mentor: Shireen Atabaki, MD, MPH
Title: Establishing Community Awareness and Fundraising for the Health
Information Technology Solutions for Kids Program
Taylor, Danielle Marie1
, Nora O’Neill2
, Daniel Schoenherr3
, Victor Chatain4
, Gabe Clarke5
,
Ammar Joraid6
, MD, Shireen M. Atabaki4,7,8
,MD, MPH
Author Affiliations: 1
Boston University, 2
Harvard University, 3
Michigan State University,
4
Childrens National Health System, 5
Oakwood University, 6
International Medicine Program,
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, 7
George Washington
University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, 8
Sheikh Zayed Institute
Background: In emergency departments across the United States children who arrive
with chief complaints of mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI’s) or concussions make up a
significant amount of visits every year. mTBI’s are typically treated in most hospitals
around the United States by CT scans to check for internal bleeding, but about 83%-
97% of these CT scans are negative in the context of mild trauma1
. This means that
some, if not most of those concussions go unrecognized and therefore untreated.
Because exposure to radiation also increases the patient's chances of developing
cancer2
, many children are being put at risk without receiving a benefit of a diagnosis.
Hospitals in the United States do not have the necessary tools or a standardized way of
recognizing, diagnosing, and treating concussion, putting many youth at risk. Health IT
solutions (H.I.T.S) for kids program has developed apps and software for doctors to use
to better diagnose and treat concussions without the use of unnecessary CT scans. The
Acute Concussion Evaluation–Emergency Department (ACE-ED) is a validated
concussion diagnostic tool used to help doctors generate a proper diagnosis of
concussions3
. Additionally a CT reduction rule can be used when treating a child with
head trauma4
. It is necessary to raise community awareness about these resources in
order to further the implementation and use of the tools in hospitals across the nation.
Purpose: Our purpose is to reach out to the community to raise awareness about the
importance of Clinicians using screening tools for concussion diagnosis. Raising
awareness to expand the scope of ACE-ED tool and CT reduction rule, with the goal
that physicians around the nation will switch paradigms to the use of ACE-ED tool from
use of CT scans to evaluate children with concussions.
Materials and Methods: To achieve the goal of community outreach, the HITS for kids
team launched a social media campaign, which included a Facebook page aimed at
posting events and updates regarding the program. The team has also created flyers
and handouts for the annual Race for Every Child 5k to canvass the community for
participation in the race. Team members have prepared editorial articles to submit to
local school media to raise awareness on the program external to the D.C. area.

2. Future Directions: H.I.T.S. for kids plans to maintain and expand our social media
presence as a group, creating a twitter and a blog account, as well as continue to
publish concussion literature. In addition, we aim to participate in advocacy and
community awareness activities to further the spread of the tools in hospitals across the
United States.
1Kuppermann N, Holmes JF, Dayan PS, et al; Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network
(PECARN). Identification of children at very low risk of clinically important brain injuries after head
trauma: a prospective cohort study. Lancet. 2009; 374(9696):1160-1170.
2Brenner D, Elliston C, Hall E, Berdon W. Estimated risks of radiation-induced fatal cancer from pediatric
CT. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2001;176(2):289-296.
3Atabaki SM, Stiell IG, Bazarian JJ, et al. A clinical decision rule for cranial computed tomography in
minor pediatric head trauma. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2008; 162 :439–45
4Zuckerbraun N, Atabaki S, Collins M, Thomas D, Gioia G. Use of Modified Acute Concussion Evaluation
Tools in the Emergency Department. Pediatrics. 2013;133:635-642