Physiotherapists' use of information in identifying a concussion : an extended Delphi approach

Objective: To determine the relative importance of signsand symptoms that a selected cohort of sportsphysiotherapists use to identify a sports concussion.Methods: A two-round Delphi methodology was used toachieve consensus in a cohort of 21 sports physiotherapists.A subsequent round involving an educationalintervention provided the participants with an opportunityto modify their knowledge base through the provision of arelevant resource article.Results: Participants provided 123 responses, whichwere grouped into eight descriptive categories withconsensus (>80%) being reached for the importance of:cognition/orientation, memory, motor dysfunction andstate of consciousness. The category ‘‘state of consciousness’’remained the most important informationsource at the completion of the study.Conclusion: Participants placed considerable importanceon the player’s level of consciousness in their decisionmaking. This would appear to be in conflict with recenttrends to place greater importance on the role ofsymptoms in identifying a concussion.