Zachary Grinspan, MD, MS: Improving Adherence to Status Epilepticus Protocols

“A lot of these decisions are being made by our colleagues in the emergency department. The considerations on how to take care of a room full of critically ill children are very different from their perspective and ours. We need to partner with our emergency department colleagues to understand where these deviations are coming from and what can we do.”

At the 73^rd annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES), December 6-10, 2019, in Baltimore, Maryland, Zachary Grinspan, MD, MS, and Isaac Mayefsky, an MD candidate at Weill Cornell Medicine, presented their findings on pediatric status epilepticus protocol for patients arriving at the emergency department.

Grinspan, who is the director of the Pediatric Epilepsy Program at Weill Cornell, and Mayefsky, collaborated on the research study, which sought to identify protocol deviations and in turn generate plans for improvement. In general, the assessment revealed that there were some issues relating to patients receiving the right drug at the right time, and in the right dosage.

Additionally, the findings reflect the differences in treatment approach between providers in the emergency department and epilepsy specialists, suggesting that there is a need for more collaboration between the two parties to ensure that protocols are being adhered to and the best possible care is being provided.

The 2 sat down with NeurologyLive at AES 2019 to highlight some of the observed deviations and discuss what can be done going forward to improve patient care in these scenarios.

For more coverage of AES 2019, click here.