The NFL hopes to identify players with concussions quicker this season, and it will utilize a medical specialist on every sideline during every game to do so. An independent head-injury expert, or unaffiliated neurological consultant, will use an iPad loaded with a concussion assessment program to determine whether a player suffered a concussion. If a player fails the test, which takes about eight minutes, he cannot return to the game — no matter what a team physician says. In the past, some team doctors would do nothing more than ask a few brief questions before clearing a player, sometimes in less than a minute. Additionally, a trained medical expert in the press box will call the neurological consultants and identify players they believe might have suffered a head injury so the player can be tested. “It's important to have these injuries evaluated comprehensively and carefully, and I think if you have an expert involved that knows how to evaluate concussions, it is an added value,†said Michael “Micky†Collins, the executive and clinical director of UPMC's concussion program. Source: Pittsburgh Tribune Review
