Concussions in sports leave a significant impact on the individual, their family, the team, league, and fans. The UMPC, affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, created a Sports Medicine Concussion Program in 2000. Since its creation, it has remained the largest leader in this discipline.
The program reached success with its innovative methods of diagnosing and treating concussions. The program includes concussion research, assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, and is still growing to this day. 13,000 patients are seen annually providing the most published research by any program. They also provide a specific facility for concussions, a multi-specialty team, and the first computerized assessment tool to diagnose concussions and their severity. Their timeline and implementation of the program have been following the Diffusion of Innovations theory.
The Diffusion of Innovations theory is what drives a new idea, product, or in this case practice, to be adopted by the publics over time. The practice is communicated through channels and adopted through five steps: awareness, interest, evaluation, trail, and adoption. Diffusing innovations into a behavior starts with becoming exposed to the new idea, finding interest, considering it to be useful, trying and confirming, and accepting it. There are also different categories of the adopters. These include the innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and the laggards.
Since 2000 when the Sports Medicine Concussion Program was launched, they have been a huge success in the medical discipline of treating concussions. The program was first inspired by the NFL’s interest in Dr. Mark Lovell to create a league-wide neuropyschological-testing program. After being recruited by UPMC Orthopedic Surgery Department Chairman Freddie Fu in 2000, him and Dr. Lovell established the first free-standing concussion program in the US that apply to both general and sport concussions. They recruited some other doctors who have had experience with concussions, and a news conference on September 6th, 2000 announced the creation of the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program.
Dr. Lovell previously developed a neurocognitive protocol for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the early 1990s. The implementation of this program along with this protocol is what helped gain so much exposure, interest, and adopters. It was named the “Steelers Battery,” and was first adopted by the Pittsburgh Steelers who considered and confirmed its practicality and usefulness. Both Dr. Lovell and the Steeler’s team neurosurgeon Joe Maroon were the innovators.The program relabeled this protocol as the “ImPACT neurocognitive test battery” and it was branched out to the NCAA, and WPIAL after use in the NFL and NHL. The Steelers team were the Early Adopters, the NFL league were the early majority, and the NHL and rest of the sports leagues were the late majority and laggards. After exposing many major sports leagues to the testing battery, the program further expanded to the international community after joining the Vienna international conference on concussions in 2002. An interest for a league-wide concussion program has been long awaited since 1997, and this idea has gained the interest of multiple leagues and led to new innovations in 2004 where computerized testing began. After joining the Prague international conference on concussions in 2005, the program gained more adopters with seven colleges and 41 high schools included in their patient base. Today, the program has expanded to assisting and rehabilitating patients with concussions. A new wing solely for treatment and injury research has been created, and an estimated 13,000 patients are treated annually. Throughout the years from 2005 to now, the program expanded with exponential clinic growth, and groundbreaking concussion studies.
What started as an interest to create a concussion program solely for the NFL, expanded, and gained many new adopters later on. Without the effectiveness of media relations, and the initial spread of Dr. Lovell’s testing battery, the program would not be as developed as it is today. Overall, the program gained awareness by the media press announcement on September 6th, 2000. It was backed up by previous interest for a need to have a league-wide concussion program. The NFL considered Dr. Lovell’s protocol for concussions to be useful, and other teams and leagues adopted this. The program also expanded help to the general public and international communities in conferences, and provided diagnosis, care, and treatment for any individual with a concussion. Now, sports leagues, patients, and athletes have accepted the program, and it currently stands as a research and treatment center.
“UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program.” Sports Medicine Concussion Program Media Kit. UMPC.com, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
“Timeline of the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program .” Sports Medicine Concussion Program Timeline. UMPC.com, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.