Abstracts

The average child spends approximately 1000 hours per year in the school setting. Of the 125,000 new cases of epilepsy diagnosed each year, [sim] one third will be age 18 or younger. Children that have epilepsy will interact with school personnel during this time, particularly school nurses. The school nurse is important not only in providing treatment and education to these students, but also in inservicing other school personnel to better help deal with their individual special concerns. Opportunities to provide on going education to school nurses is pivotal in achieving optimal care for these students, improving their self esteem and in decreasing undue stigma during these developmental years.. There has been on ongoing program to educate school nurses in Missouri. During the period of October 2003-May 2005 a special manual [quot]Students with Seizures[quot] provided by the Epilepsy Foundation of the St. Louis Region was used. These nurses were then contacted to assess if they had students in school with seizures and whether they were able to develop a care plan for these students. Out of 32 responses, 23 stated that they had one or more students with epilepsy in their school. Of these, 12 nurses had developed definite care plans for their students. This indicates the importance of continual education for school nurses along with follow-up sessions to provide assistance to assure that the information dispensed is being put to use to assist in the care of students with epilepsy. (Supported by Epilepsy Foundation of the St. Louis Region.)