Head injury in the workplace.

Work related head injuries do not occur frequently in comparison to other injuries, but their importance lies in their relative severity, both in terms of work days lost and long term morbidity, making it important for the occupational health nurse to have knowledge of how to deal with the initial injury and residual problems. In head injury, most of the treatment is aimed toward prevention of hypoxia, airway obstruction, hypercapnia, hypotension, and bleeding. The Glasgow Coma Scale is used for the severely head injured person. The residual cognitive impairment, emotional disturbances, and behavioral changes after head injury tend to continue long after the physical disabilities have resolved. Therefore, the occupational health nurse needs to assist recovering individuals and their families and coworkers to learn to cope with physical, cognitive, behavioral, and intellectual deficits.