Interdisciplinary Care Teams in Epilepsy Care: Lucretia Long, APRN-CNP

WATCH TIME: 4 minutes

“It has a dramatic improvement in overall outcomes for patients and families with epilepsy, and I think we can look at minimizing ER visits, and quality parameters like patient satisfaction. Patients with epilepsy have a lot of challenges with transportation, so if you can incorporate a single visit with that multidisciplinary team, where everyone is there providing appropriate and comprehensive care, you can [provide] a more efficient process and also minimize traveling expenses.”

At the 2022 American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting, held December 2 to 6, in Nashville, Tennessee, a professional development session was held highlighting the career pathways for nonphysician medical professionals in the epilepsy care paradigm. The session offered an overview of the roles of various members of the interdisciplinary care team, including pharmacy specialists, physician’s assistants, social workers, nurse practitioners, and more.

Lucretia Long, APRN-CNP, an associate clinical professor of neurology at OSU Wexner Medical Center, was among those presenters, offering her perspective on the role of the nurse practitioner in epilepsy care and summarizing her career path to this point. In a conversation with NeurologyLive^®, she spoke about the current layout of the interdisciplinary care team at her institution, and the advantages that brings to care.

She specifically highlighted the role that the pharmacy department at OSU Wexner Medical Center plays, assisting with providing patient history and medication counseling for those individuals who have comorbidities or are on multiple therapies. Additionally, she explained what she sees as the biggest challenges to assembling these care teams, including the financial burden and the need to manage the timing of getting all of these members in the same place at the same time to ensure positive communication.

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REFERENCE
1. Long L. Career Pathways: Interprofessional Panel: Academic Appointment and Research. Presented at: AES Annual Meeting; December 2-6, 2022; Nashville, TN, and virtual. Professional development.