A Caring Approach to Seizure Care

Price (includes one year of access and CE):  US$14 Course Code: 7SENNF-PRV-09-ddn211 CE: 2.75 Hours. Post Test Score Required for Successful Completion: 80%

Course Overview:

Many clients with developmental disabilities have seizures, so nurses caring for this population must be knowledgeable about seizure management. Because caregivers are more likely than nurses to be present when a client has a seizure, it is imperative that nurses teach caregivers about how to recognize and document seizures, and how to provide client care during and after seizures. This module focuses on how nurses can best help caregivers to understand what seizures are, how they are diagnosed and classified, and what factors can precipitate them. The module emphasizes a caring approach to employing seizure precautions and ensuring client safety during a seizure, including use of individualized seizure management protocols for providing client care and recognizing when a seizure requires emergency medical care. The caregiving implications related to client use of antiepileptic medications and other treatments for epilepsy are discussed. Additionally, the module presents strategies for facilitating and advocating for community inclusion for people with developmental disabilities.

Course Objectives:

By completion of this module, the learner will be able to teach caregivers how to promote a supportive, protective, and respectful environment for people with developmental disabilities who have seizures, including how to:

• use basic terminology to define what a seizure is and what causes it.
• describe how caregivers can help prepare and support people with developmental disabilities before and during common diagnostic tests for seizures.
• describe six types of seizures that most commonly affect people who have developmental disabilities, including manifestations and care priorities.
• list seven situations that can precipitate or increase seizure activity and how caregivers can help to prevent these situations.
• describe safety precautions/protocols that caregivers should implement to provide a protective environment during activities of daily living in case a person falls, loses consciousness, or becomes unaware of surroundings or actions due to seizure activity.
• explain why it is important to have an individualized seizure management protocol in place for each client who experiences seizures.
• describe appropriate basic management and first aid in a non-emergent seizure situation using a sample individualized management protocol for two simulated clients: one who experiences a generalized tonic clonic seizure and one who experiences a complex partial seizure.
• describe how to identify and intervene in situations in which a seizure becomes a medical emergency requiring emergency medical care.
• describe how to use principles of human caring to preserve human dignity and provide support when intervening during and after a seizure.
• describe the caregiver's responsibility for observing the client during the seizure and for reporting observations to a licensed health professional.
• list medications commonly used to treat seizures and common side effects that require either modification of daily care or reporting to a health care professional.
• describe the caregiver's role in other seizure treatments, including vagus nerve stimulation and ketogenic diets.
• describe how caregivers can facilitate and advocate for clients who have epilepsy and developmental disabilities to ensure that they have appropriate access to health care services and full inclusion within an accepting community environment.

This courseware was made possible in part by grant number R43 NR04738-03 from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Copyright© 2007 by HealthSoft, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

HealthSoft, Inc. is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the New York State Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

It has been assigned code 7SENNF-PRV-09.

This course is updated annually. Expiration date: 5/1/11

The faculty and planners of this course have no vested interests to disclose.

This course has received no commercial support.