Abstracts

Rationale: Patients with seizure disorders often receive an overwhelming amount of information and usually have many questions and concerns about their condition. Nurses within the epilepsy program are in a unique position to conduct teaching with newly referred patients and to provide links to resources within the hospital and in the community. The goal of the new orientation clinic is the enhancement of patient care through the provision of clear and applicable information for the purpose of reducing stress and increasing the patient's confidence in managing their seizure disorder. By completing a checklist of topics with each patient during an individualized clinic or telehealth visit and discussing the patient's expectations for the care they can expect to receive as patients within the program, the orientation clinic can help the multi-disciplinary team ensure that all patients within the program receive consistent, baseline information and that common misconceptations about epilepsy are addressed. Methods: Patients are selected based on the following criteria: 1)a history of epilepsy (generalized or complex partial seizures), 2)on a minimum of one antiepileptic medication, 3)with an initial clinic visit to see the epileptologist within the last 6 months. Patients are contacted by the nurses and offered a one-hour visit with the clinic nurse(s) either on site or via telehealth. During the visit patients receive teaching on a standardized list of topics pertaining to seizures such as seizure types, common seizure triggers, first aid, medications, driving, employment, mood, bone health, and issues to unique to women with epilepsy. In addition to verbal information, each patient receives an information package containing brochures about living with epilepsy, safety and epilepsy, seizure first aid, as well as a seizure record. A pre and post survey with both qualitative and quantitative questions are also completed by the patient. Patients are also encouraged to bring in questions that can be addressed by the nurses during their visit. Results: Preliminary results suggest: 1)Qualitative and quantitative feedback from patients has indicated learning needs on common themes such as: driving, medications and side effects, and safety and seizure first aid, 2)in the post-surveys 100% of respondents answered "agree" or "strongly agree" that the session was beneficial in providing information and answering questions on the management of their condition, and 3)all surveyed patients thought that nurses were an adequate resource in providing the information. Conclusions: To date, all adult epilepsy outpatients have responded positively to a nurse-led orientation clinic. Through the orientation clinic, nurses contribute as members of a multi-disciplinary team by forging connections with patients, serving as a resource of information, clarifying the expectations of patients, and helping to ensure that newly referred patients have a consistent baseline of knowledge. It is the goal of the authors to establish an orientation clinic that will become a fully integrated aspect of the Adult Epilepsy Program.