OHI- Epilepsy

This article studies school nurses and the measures one school district took to better ensure the safety of their students with epilepsy. “Epilepsy is a neurological condition that causes seizures” (James McLeskey, 2013). There are two different types of seizures a grand mal seizures and a petit mal seizure. “A seizure happens when a brief strong surge of abnormal and disorganized electrical activity affects part or all of the brain. Two or more unprovoked seizures is the diagnostic criterion for epilepsy” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015).  The CDC estimates that “about 467,711 children (0-17 years of age) in the United States suffer from epilepsy” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015). 
            School nurses are a key component in the safety and the support of students with epilepsy. It is important that school nurses are confident in their ability to provide care for these students . “In a national survey, it found that only 60% of 573 school nurses reported feeling confident in managing seizures compared to potential life-threatening emergencies that they encounter” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015).  School nurses are essentially the first responders when a student is having an episode. Therefore, nurses should be extremely confident in their abilities to provide excellent care when a student is having a seizure.
            This study examined a Midwestern school district that serviced 42 different schools. The school district had “approximately 39,000 students attending two early childhood sites, 24 elementary schools, six middle schools, five high schools, one alternative middle school and one alternative high school” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015). This school district “had at least one student with epilepsy in each school, 312 students with an episode diagnosis, and 514 recorded seizure event responses” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015). With such a large number of students having diagnosed cases of epilepsy, it was important the district developed an effective action plan. The school decided to partner with “the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015). By partnering with the Epilepsy Foundation this school district would be the first to become a “Seizure Smart School District” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015).  The purpose of this program is “to educate school communities regarding seizures in order to create safe, supportive environments for students with epilepsy” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015). 
            The program began by administering a survey to school nurses which focused on caring for students with epilepsy, gage their confidence levels, and how comfortable they felt implementing a seizure action plan. “The survey found that the school nurses were already providing seizure education for staff; they were developing and updating student health and seizure emergency plans, working with families, and communicating children’s needs to staff” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015).  However, there were also findings of lack of knowledge and what actions needed to be taken when a child is experiencing a seizure. The nurses requested “a new training video for staff seizure trainings, a standardized training program to make the education content more uniform, and handouts of useful epilepsy resources” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015).  The school nurses participated in a multiday training program that would “prepare them to confidently train the teachers and administrative staff in their own schools” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015).  The school nurses then conducted “30-minute seizure trainings at their school staff meetings during the 5-month implementation period” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015).  “These sessions consisted of an 18-minute seizure awareness, recognition, and response video created by the Epilepsy Foundation” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015).
            The findings of this study were overall positive. “The school nurses had overwhelmingly positive feedback; 92% responded that the seizure awareness project was helpful and provided detailed comments” (Brook, Hiltz, Kopplin & Lindeke, 2015).  This study also showed that the confidence levels of the nurses increased. However, one drawback to this study is that it was only implemented for 5 months due to the end of the school year. I think this is a great program that all schools should adopt in order to ensure the readiness and safety of all their students.
           



Brook, H. A., Hiltz, C. M., Kopplin, V. L., & Lindeke, L. L. (2015). Increasing epilepsy awareness in schools: A seizure smart schools project. Journal of school nursing, 31(4), 246-252.

James McLeskey, M.S. (2013). Inclusion effective practices for all students. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Comments

  1. Laura SchmidtSeptember 25, 2017 at 6:30 PM

    I found this article very interesting since I have to be a substitute in the nurse's office in my school everyday for approximately an hour. Training is so crucial, especially for health issues. Action plans are always available in the nurse's office, however in the instance someone is having a seizure a caregiver would want to feel confident in what needed to be done. It would not be the time you would want to read through the plan on what the procedure should be. Training like this seems so simple, yet it also can make such a difference in a health emergency.

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  2. UnknownOctober 1, 2017 at 12:48 PM

    This was a great article. It is very important for school personnel to be educated on epilepsy and seizure care. Many people are unaware of seizures and do not know what to do when a seizure occurs. I liked that they created a plan and provided trainings at their school meetings so all staff can be educated. It is often if there is a health impairment in the school only the general classroom teacher and nurse are aware of the health issue for that particular child. However, there should be trainings for epilepsy, diabetes, and other health impairments in general. Excellent article on providing trainings for all.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 6, 2017 at 5:27 PM

    Really great article. Very timely for a situation at my school currently. As a private school, we do not have a school nurse (I've been BEGGING for one) and we have more and more students with significant medical needs (such as epilepsy, food allergies, etc.) All of these students have emergency action plans, but the office staff is the "front line" for many of these issues and they are not nurses.

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