Concussion Clinic Supply Checklist

A concussion clinic isn’t where the initial injury gets managed — that happens on the sideline, at a venue first aid station, or in an emergency department if red-flag symptoms appear. A concussion clinic is where the athlete lands afterward: for a baseline assessment before the season starts, a structured post-injury evaluation, and the follow-up visits that clear a return to learn and return to play. That changes what belongs on the shelf — not a trauma bag, but standardized assessment tools plus the basic first aid and monitoring equipment for a patient whose symptoms worsen while they’re in the building.

This checklist picks up where CASRAI’s other sports-medical checklists leave off: the sports stadium medical facility supply checklist covers on-site venue response, and the youth sports team medical kit checklist covers the sideline kit a coach carries. This page is the clinical follow-up side of that care pathway.

Where to source this: LAC (lac.us), CASRAI’s sister medical-supply business under the same operator, stocks the core categories on this list directly — First Aid Kits and Diagnostic, Monitoring & Imaging equipment. Nothing here is a paid placement or a third-party affiliate link; it’s a real, first-party sourcing option, not a requirement to buy from a specific vendor.

Baseline Testing: What to Stock Before the Season Starts

Baseline testing establishes an athlete’s own normal — their typical symptom load, balance, and cognitive performance — before any injury occurs, so a post-injury result has something individual to compare against instead of only a population average. A clinic running baseline programs for school or club athletes needs three categories of material on hand, not one:

A standardized graded symptom checklist. The symptom-evaluation component built into the current Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT6 for athletes roughly 13 and older, Child SCAT6 for younger athletes) is the widely used starting point — a fixed list of symptoms rated for severity, filled out by the athlete at baseline and again after any suspected injury. These are paper or digital forms, not equipment, but they’re a real consumable line item: budget for reprinting or a digital-form subscription, not a one-time purchase.
A computerized neurocognitive testing platform (commercial baseline-testing software is standard in this space) to capture reaction time, memory, and processing speed as objective baseline numbers. This is a software/licensing decision more than a supply-closet item, but it drives the exam-room hardware: a dedicated computer or tablet per testing station, headphones, and a quiet room free of the visual/auditory distraction that skews results.
Balance-assessment space and props. The Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) and its variants are done on a firm surface and a piece of medium-density foam, in a space large enough for an athlete to stand in the required stances without hitting furniture. This is one of the cheapest line items on this whole checklist and one of the most frequently forgotten — clinics that skip a real BESS setup end up doing a lower-quality improvised version of it.

Post-Injury and Follow-Up Assessment Tools

Once an athlete arrives with a suspected concussion — often referred from the sideline or stadium setting covered in the two checklists linked above — the clinic’s job is a structured, repeatable evaluation, not a repeat of the on-field screening. Stock for:

The same graded symptom checklist used at baseline, so the two results are directly comparable rather than two different instruments measuring loosely related things.
Vestibular-ocular motor screening (VOMS) materials: a near-point-of-convergence ruler or ruler-and-target setup, a fixed target for smooth pursuit and saccade testing, and a stopwatch. Vestibular and ocular-motor dysfunction is one of the more consistently useful post-concussion findings, and the equipment to screen for it is inexpensive and durable.
A reflex hammer, penlight, and basic cranial-nerve exam tools for the neurological screen that rules out findings inconsistent with an uncomplicated concussion (asymmetric pupils, focal weakness, gait abnormality) and flags when imaging or emergency referral is actually indicated instead.
An otoscope for the differential — dizziness and balance complaints after a head injury aren’t automatically concussion-related, and a quick ear exam rules out a coincidental or contributing cause before it’s assumed away.

Diagnostic and Monitoring Equipment for the Clinic Setting

A concussion clinic still needs the standard exam-room diagnostic set, both for the concussion workup itself and because a patient can present with something that isn’t a simple concussion:

Blood pressure cuff and pulse oximeter — standard vitals, useful both diagnostically and as an early check if a patient’s condition changes mid-visit.
Clinical thermometer — fever can indicate a process other than a straightforward concussion and belongs in the initial workup.
A basic vision chart and pupil gauge for the eye exam component of the screen.
A stethoscope, on the same logic as the blood pressure cuff: a concussion clinic still needs to rule out that something else is going on before treating symptoms as purely concussion-related.

See LAC’s Diagnostic, Monitoring & Imaging category for this equipment class specifically.

Basic First Aid for an Acute-Symptom Scenario In-Clinic

Most concussion-clinic visits are calm, scheduled follow-ups. The exception the clinic still has to be ready for is a patient whose symptoms worsen while they’re on-site — a genuine emergency-referral scenario, not a routine finding. The red-flag symptom set that warrants immediate emergency evaluation is well established across sports-medicine consensus guidance: worsening or severe headache, repeated vomiting, seizure activity, increasing confusion or agitation, slurred speech, weakness or numbness in the arms or legs, unequal or dilated pupils, and any drop in level of consciousness. A clinic’s basic first aid stock for that scenario should include:

A wall-mounted or portable AED and staff current on its use — a concussion visit is still a clinical encounter and cardiac events, while rare, aren’t excluded by the visit type.
A general first aid kit stocked for minor incidental injury (a fall in the parking lot, a scrape from transport) — see LAC’s First Aid Kits category for a stocked option scaled to a small clinical space.
An emesis basin or bag supply, given how common vomiting is as a worsening-symptom sign, plus a change of gloves and basic PPE for staff managing it.
A blanket and a private space to have the patient lie down while awaiting EMS, if activation is warranted.
A clearly posted, rehearsed EMS-activation protocol at the front desk and in every exam room — the point of this whole stock isn’t to manage a true emergency in-house, it’s to stabilize and support the patient for the few minutes until transport arrives.

Documentation: Return-to-Learn and Return-to-Play Materials

A concussion clinic produces paperwork as much as it produces a clinical exam, and the forms are part of the supply list, not an afterthought:

Stepwise return-to-learn accommodation forms for the athlete’s school, covering the graduated reintroduction of cognitive workload.
Stepwise return-to-play progression forms, documenting each stage the athlete clears (light aerobic activity, sport-specific exercise, non-contact training drills, full-contact practice, return to competition) with a named clinician signing off on each stage.
A physician clearance/release-to-play form for the athletic trainer, coach, or school to keep on file — this is frequently the document a youth sports team or school administrator is actually waiting on, and running out of the current version at the front desk is a real, avoidable bottleneck.

Restocking and Par-Level Considerations

Unlike a sideline kit, most of a concussion clinic’s consumable spend is paper and licensing, not gauze: symptom-checklist forms, return-to-play documentation, and neurocognitive-platform seat licenses need a real restocking cadence, reviewed at least each season and whenever the standardized assessment tool itself gets revised (the field has moved from SCAT5 to SCAT6, for example, and a clinic still handing out the prior edition’s forms is producing results that won’t compare cleanly to current baseline norms). On the physical side, treat AED pads/battery and first aid kit contents on the same expiration-check schedule any clinical space uses, and recalibrate or re-verify any computerized balance or oculomotor equipment per its manufacturer’s schedule rather than only when something seems off.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between a concussion clinic and a sideline first aid kit?

A sideline kit (see the youth sports team medical kit checklist) is built for an untrained adult to manage an acute injury in the field with no diagnostic equipment. A concussion clinic is a follow-up clinical setting doing standardized, repeatable assessment — baseline testing, post-injury evaluation, and return-to-play clearance — not initial on-field triage.

Does a concussion clinic need imaging equipment like CT or MRI?

Not typically. Most concussion-specialty clinics don’t stock imaging themselves; imaging (when clinically indicated by a red-flag finding) is generally referred out to a hospital or imaging center. The clinic’s own equipment is assessment and monitoring tools, not diagnostic imaging hardware.

What assessment tool should a clinic use for baseline testing?

The current Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT6, or Child SCAT6 for younger athletes) is the widely used standardized instrument for the symptom-checklist and basic neurological-screen components, generally paired with a separate computerized neurocognitive testing platform and a standardized balance test such as the BESS.

Who can clear an athlete to return to play after a concussion?

Return-to-play clearance is a clinical decision, typically made by a physician or other licensed healthcare provider trained in concussion management, following a graduated, symptom-limited progression — not a fixed calendar timeline and not a coach or athletic trainer acting alone, though athletic trainers are frequently the ones administering and documenting each stage of that progression.

How does this checklist relate to a stadium or venue medical facility?

They cover different points in the same care pathway. The sports stadium medical facility supply checklist is built for acute, in-the-moment response when an injury happens during an event at that venue. This page covers what happens next — the specialty clinic visit for baseline testing, structured post-injury evaluation, and the follow-up visits that track recovery through to clearance.