Post-Traumatic Amnesia, A Predictor Factor on Long-Term Complaints in Mild and Moderate Head Injury Patients

Abstract

Some patients with mild and moderate head injuries still experience residual symptoms for several weeks to months after the injury, which can interfere with the ability to perform activities of daily living and social activities. Mild and moderate brain injury can cause reversible lesions accompanied by long-term complaints. These complaints should be used as the beginning of the basic physical signs to determine the next nursing action. This study aims to determine the prognostic value of the characteristics of acute injury based on the duration of post-traumatic amnesia on long-term complaints of patients with mild to moderate head injuries. This research involved 60 mild- moderate head injury patients (utilizing purposive sampling method) who were treated in the emergency department of the Tugurejo General Hospital, Semarang from July 2021 – June 2022. The results showed that most of the respondents were male (68.3%), with the highest age range being 20-45 years (81.7%), and most of the respondents had mild head injuries (71.7%). There is a significant correlation between post- traumatic amnesia and long-term complaints at 6 months after mild and moderate
head injury treatment (p = 0.000), with a positive relationship (0.921) which means the longer the duration of PTA, the higher the duration of PTA. There are many complaints that accompany mild and moderate head injuries. Nurses and doctors are expected to be able to use the duration of posttraumatic amnesia as a predictor of outcome for patients with mild-moderate head injury and receive priority in hospital treatment for immediate follow-up according to procedures. With an accurate assessment and proper treatment of posttraumatic amnesia factors, it is expected to reduce the burden of treatment costs for patients and families.