Essay Example on Research in this lab focuses on seizure focus localization and seizure Prediction

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For the past year I have worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Brain Dynamics Laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering The research in this lab focuses on seizure focus localization and seizure prediction in epileptic patients As we go through data that has been recorded before during and after seizures and create algorithms to analyze this data every day it is very easy to become detached from the reality of epilepsy and how greatly it affects the lives of the people who suffer from the disorder I always thought that a self management intervention for people with epilepsy already existed considering the disorder affects 1 2 of the population so I was surprised to find that this is not the case and that instead a large amount of people goes to the emergency room when they have a seizure I chose to review the article Developing and assessing the acceptability of an epilepsy first aid training intervention for patients who visit UK emergency departments

A multi method study of patients and professionals so that I could better understand this lack of self management interventions that exist for these people with epilepsy as well as to learn about the possible types of first aid training that can be taught to people with epilepsy and their caretakers The scientists who completed this research did so after defining the need for a self management strategy for epileptic patients This need is evident due to the statistic that 20 of epileptic patients visit the hospital each in year in the UK While most of these trips are avoidable and often do not help the patient at all people with epilepsy and their families do not feel comfortable enough to manage seizures on their own so they rely on the emergency department to handle the seizures

This reliance is costly for the patient and the number of trips to that a person with epilepsy takes to the emergency department per year has been shown to be linked with a poorer quality of life both physically and emotionally The development a self management intervention however would help to eliminate the expense of hospital bills while also leading to a more positive standard of living for people with epilepsy The main objective of this research was to create a self management intervention that can be utilized by people with epilepsy and their families or caretakers This was completed by reviewing a pre existing invention taught in the training course titled Epilepsy awareness and seizure management and adapting this course so that it would be more effective and accessible These changes were designed by a panel of professionals patients and caretakers This co design process was done in three stages First health professionals were interviewed about their opinions about the original intervention

Then the potential to increase the confidence and competence of people with epilepsy and their caretakers in regard to self management interventions for seizures was optimized Lastly people with epilepsy and their caretakers were included in a panel group discussion The feedback given at these discussions then led to the final improvements to the invention The authors of the article divided the results of this study into two sections 1 health professionals and 2 service users These results include a summary of the recurring themes for each of these groups For the group of health professionals the initial impression of the study was that the development of an intervention method is needed and will also be cost effective as well as that the original training course would provide an effective intervention with some adaptations These proposed adaptations included changes in the language and presentation style of the course as well as including a greater emphasize as to why it is important that people with epilepsy and their caretakers to take the training course

Also the professionals felt that the course should provide a great amount of detail concerning what situations require a hospital visit or not The recurring themes for the group of service users was different and seemed to be more geared towards the fears and lack of knowledge of first aid for seizures in the affected population Regarding the way that the training course should be delivered the service users agreed that having the opportunity to learn hands on would be more beneficial that merely being presented with a cluster of videos They also included that the group format of the original training program should continue as it allows for people with epilepsy and their families to provide and receive support from others who are going through the same struggles I really enjoyed reading this article and I think that the study was conducted in a manner that allowed for the development of a great epilepsy first aid training intervention Interviewing both healthcare professionals and people with epilepsy and their caretakers allowed for the intervention to be effective while also being simple enough so that the users will be confident when performing the first aid I also think that being taught what kind of situations do or do not require a hospital visit will greatly help reduce the number of unnecessary or avoidable trips to the emergency room and this will help save money and take a lot of stress of the people who previously relied on the emergency room for seizure management I was very surprised that an effective method of intervention for seizures was not already well established but I hope that this type of first aid will be taught to all epileptic patients and their families so that they will have an improved quality of life

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