We are a community of professionals engaged in the understanding, diagnosis, study, prevention, treatment and cure, with the goal of improving outcomes for persons with epilepsy.
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Epilepsy is the most common and potentially devastating neurological disease that affects people across the lifespan:
Some essential information about seizures and characteristics of an individual's epilepsy can only be obtained in the moments during and after a seizure. Due to substantial variation in ictal and post-ictal examinations across and within epilepsy monitoring units, this information can often be missed or poorly documented. A standardized ictal and post-ictal examination protocol in the epilepsy monitoring unit allows providers to maximize the acquisition of information during admission.
This performance improvement project will give clinicians the resources necessary to create and implement a standardized ictal and post-ictal examination protocol for focal seizures that includes all exam features required by NAEC accreditation criteria, provide training on appropriate seizure exam goals and techniques, and understand the utility of specific exam items in highlighting specific clinical information.
Screening for quality of life should occur at every outpatient appointment. This performance improvement activity details why screening for quality of life is important, helps learners increase knowledge on validated quality of life screening tools available for the epilepsy patient population, and assists the learner in creating interventions to improve baseline of screening using quality improvement methodologies.
Epilepsy can profoundly impact a person’s quality of life due to physical, social, and psychological consequences. Quality of life is partly dependent on seizure frequency, but is also impacted by other factors, such as overall health status, intellectual and physical functioning, side effects from antiseizure medications, and social factors like employment and marital status.