Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease that is characterized by unpredictable seizures with no identifiable triggers and can be amenable to medico-surgical treatment. There is a lot that patients of epilepsy and their families do not know about the disease hence extreme worries and uncertainty. This paper will explore the practice of nursing-care to epileptics and their families; the paper will use the theories and facts pointed out by Smith et al. (2015) to expound on what nurses need to share with epileptic patients and their families. The main points that this paper will discuss are first aid of epileptic patients during seizure and pharmacotherapy of epilepsy.
It is important for families living with epileptic individuals to understand how to to manage these individuals whenever the seizures occur. It is also important for the families to understand that without adequate control, the seizures can occur unpredictably and without any significant trigger. Moreover, the family should understand that first aid is important during the seizure to prevent sudden death (Smith et al., 2015). The unpredictability of the seizures and the risk of sudden unexpected death associated with the seizures informed my choice for this aspect. Smith et al., (2015) list steps to be taken by an observer of an epileptic person.
First, it is important for them to stay calm and ensure the victim is breathing. Next, they should clear the area to prevent the victim from getting injury and use a stopwatch to time the seizure. Moreover, they should not try to hold the victim still or put things into their mouth. Rather, they should lie the victim of the side to allow them to breathe normally. Further, it is important not to administer any oral medication or give water while the patient is seizing. After the seizure, the victim should be reassured and empathized with. On this, Smith et al. (2015) differ with the lectures given in that the lectures concentrated mainly on nursing care while this paper concentrates on what a layman should do. Moreover, this paper considers a place without any medical facilities while the lectures concentrated on the environment of a hospital.
Although the details of pharmacotherapy are to be reserved for clinicians, it is of utmost importance for patients and their families to understand a few aspects of pharmacotherapy hence my choice for this aspect. It is important for patients and their families to understand how to use the drugs and to anticipate the effects of the drugs if any. The first aspect which patients and their families should know is that there are pharmacotherapeutic for stopping an ongoing seizure and there are those for prevention of seizures (Smith et al., 2015). However, they should not attempt to use drugs to stop seizures as this are to be administered by healthcare workers. As for them, they should look to use the drugs for prevention of seizures diligently.
Even when a seizure occurs, the patient should not use the drugs prescribed for prevention of seizure in an attempt to stop the seizure. Moreover, it is important for patients and their families to know the common side effects of the commonly used anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) so as to anticipate them. Moreover, the family should aid the patient while using the drugs to prevent them from using inappropriate doses (Smith et al., 2015). Again, pharmacotherapy of epilepsy as taught in lectures differs from its presentation in this paper as this paper does not concentrate of the pharmacology of the drugs but on how to use them and what to expect from them.
References
Smith, G., Wagner, J. L., & Edwards, J. C. (2015). CE: Epilepsy update, Part 2: Nursing care and evidence-based treatment. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 115(6), 34-44.
