My research question is, “How reliable is the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment Cognitive Testing (imPACT) test?”. After having worked in the athletic training room at my high school for two and a half years, I was thoroughly exposed to the test by administering it to athletes and even taking it myself after receiving a concussion. The two head athletic trainers I worked under did not believe the test was very reliable, but, used it anyhow as it was easy to administer and monitor how athletes performed on it. As everyone has their own opinions on any given medical topic, it was not very difficult to find information that would suggest this topic is argumentative. The reliability of the imPACT test is argumentative because a concussion test needs to be reliable in order to have accurate data on an athlete prior to and after a concussion. This helps in deciding what the best treatment is for…show more content… Concussions are not an injury that should go unresolved or barely treated. Individuals do die from them each year due to complications or not being treated when they should have been. If the imPACT test is unreliable, then it needs to be altered so that it is reliable and will not potentially put someone’s life at risk. Personally, I do not have a position on whether the imPACT test is reliable or not. After administering it to over 300 athletes in high school and even taking it myself, there is no opinion on it for me other than it is quick to administer and the results are not complicated to read. However, most of the athletes that were given the test did believe it was unreliable since it was electronically administered. This is a common misconception as people tend to believe that electronically administered concussion tests are not reliable because athletes could cheat on them. It is not possible to cheat on a concussion test, whether electronic or on paper like the King Devick concussion
