I’m a pediatric nurse practitioner, but I’m also a mom. I understand completely when worried parents come into our practice and want quick answers about their child’s injury or illness. That’s especially important when it comes to head injuries. We’ve learned so much in recent years about the potential long-term impacts of concussions. We must take the right precautions to protect kids from head injuries and also diagnose them properly.

And that’s why we tell parents not to rush in to a CT scan for their kids.

Each scan exposes a child to significant levels of radiation. Last year, the New Jersey Hospital Association joined with hospitals and pediatric providers across the state in a public outreach effort called #ScanSmart. Our goal is to protect kids from the downstream risks of exposure to radiation through unnecessary scans. And now our work is echoed by brand new guidelines released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC’s very first recommendation? Do not routinely scan pediatric patients to diagnose mild traumatic brain injury.

Parents must be partners with their children’s physicians and nurses to make the right treatment decisions. Here’s what we want parents to know in the event that their kids experience a head injury:

• A CT scan uses ionizing radiation to take several images, which provide important information to the medical team about a child’s injury. It’s a very important tool to help diagnose potential head or brain injury.
• A CT scan exposes the patient to much higher levels of radiation than an X-ray.  Radiation exposure is 60-80 times greater in a CT scan compared with a routine X-ray.
• That radiation brings with it some added risks. The risk of developing cancer from a CT scan is small; however, children are much more sensitive to radiation than adults, and they will be exposed to increasing amounts of radiation over their lifetimes.
• The goal is to diagnose an injury correctly, without exposing your child to additional risks. It’s perfectly OK to ask your child’s doctor or nurse, “Is this scan necessary?”

If your medical team says a CT scan is needed, remember that the benefit to your child outweighs the risks. For a child that has sustained a serious head injury, the CT scan will provide important information about the best possible treatment options.

Just as we’ve aimed to give parents the information they need, we’ve also worked behind the scenes with hospitals and physicians to make sure they’re following good protocols to protect kids from unnecessary radiation. We call it the COOL approach: Consider using other testing without radiation; Only scan the indicated area; Only scan once; and the Lowest amount of radiation should be used.

I’m happy to report that this effort has decreased the number of unnecessary CT scans in children with minor head injuries by 30.8 percent so far, protecting those kids from the potential impacts of radiation later in their lives.

Soniya Sheth, RN, MSN, CPNP, is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner. She also serves as a clinical quality improvement specialist for the New Jersey Hospital Association’s Health Research and Educational Trust.