Young Epilepsy, a charity supporting epileptic children and their families and carers, launched the programme in co-operation with Viropharma at the recent British International League Against Epilepsy Congress in Glasgow.
The programme addresses issues raised in an article published in Archives of Disease in Childhood in July, which included the suggestion that a lack of training, guidance and legal frameworks for carers of epileptic children has resulted in unnecessary ambulance call-outs.
Young Epilepsy’s campaign stresses the importance of good practice in rescue management for seizures in children, particularly to avoid status epilepticus, when one seizure or a cluster of short seizures last for more than 30 minutes. The longer a seizure lasts, the less likely it is to stop on its own or with the help of emergency medicines. The dangers of status epilepticus can include brain damage.
Nina Solomon, epilepsy specialist nurse at Young Epilepsy, said, ‘NICE and other international guidelines recommend that any convulsive seizure lasting longer than five minutes should be treated with rescue medication as quickly as possible to prevent progression to status epilepticus. But in practice, valuable time often passes as carers wait for an ambulance to arrive and for them to administer rescue medication.’
The five steps in the educational programme for rescue management for children with epilepsy are:
- note the time when the seizure started
- clear the area to allow the child to move freely and safely
- administer rescue medication according to the child’s emergency protocol (usually after five minutes in convulsive seizures)
- reassure and monitor the child
- call an ambulance if the seizure continues for five minutes after giving rescue medication
Lisa Farmer, interim chief executive at Young Epilepsy, said, ‘It’s vital that by promoting these five simple steps for parents and carers of young people with epilepsy to follow, they will feel more confident in providing rescue medication when required, and help prevent possible serious health consequences from a prolonged seizure.’
Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder in children in the UK, affecting around 60,000 people under 18. Seizures are the most common symptoms.
