It is estimated that around 3% of the population will experience at least one seizure in their lifetime. While most seizures are relatively harmless, they can be a sign of a more serious underlying condition. Because of this, many people wonder if hospitals are required to report patients who have had a seizure. The answer to this question is a little complicated. In general, hospitals are not required to report patients who have had a seizure. However, there are some circumstances where they may be required to do so. For example, some states have laws that require hospitals to report certain types of seizures to the state health department. These laws are usually in place to help track and monitor potentially serious health conditions. In addition, hospitals may be required to report seizures to other government agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), if the seizure is believed to be caused by a contagious disease. Overall, while hospitals are not typically required to report patients who have had a seizure, there are some circumstances where they may need to do so.
HOS (hospital-onset seizures) are seizures that occur in patients who are admitted to the hospital for reasons other than seizure-related nausea. In 2005, approximately 1.4 million (3.0%) of the 39.6 million (3.6%) hospitalizations for epilepsy and seizures were due to seizures or epilepsy. Derangements caused by metabolic processes were the most common. The most common medications prescribed were antiepileptic drugs like phenytoin and levetiracetam. When a patient has a hospital-onset seizure (HOS), the intensity of medical care is often increased. HOS treatment can be severely hampered by the lack of guidelines for its management. Antiepileptic drug therapy (AED) is being used in hospitals in a more extensive way.
Older AEDs appear to be the most effective first-line therapy for HOS. In our study, we looked at 3345 medical records of patients who had an ICD-9 code for epilepsy or seizures and who were identified by pharmacy data from 2007. Attending physicians, residents, and nurses recorded all seizures. During the hospitalization, it was noted that medications such as AEDs, antibiotics, statin medications, immunosuppressants, and anticoagulant medications were administered. During a single day, 84 (39%) of patients had a single seizure, while 49 (22%) had multiple seizures. The most common etiologies identified by researchers were stroke, metabolic derangement, and brain tumors. A person with no previous epilepsy was more likely to be in the intensive care unit at the time of their index seizure.
Three (25%) of the twelve patients with status epilepticus who experienced an index seizure received benzodiazepines at the onset of their seizures. Phenytoin was preferred over Adderall among patients with new onset seizures (61 percent versus 38%, P =.002) and patients with prior seizures (61 percent versus 38%, P =.002). There were no differences in drug use based on age, seizure etiology, underlying medical condition, or service provided at the time of index seizures. Hospice care accounted for one-fourth of patient deaths (14%) in the study. Patients with new-onset seizures at NYU and Bellevue who had been prescribed Phenytoin as a liver enzyme-inducing AED were prescribed the drug at a rate of 16% and 35%, respectively. This is a 100% increase over the number of patients who received phenytoins at admission (13%). Metabolic decays were identified as the most common cause of recurrent hospital seizures.
Patients who have a history of seizures are less likely to require further hospitalization. It wasn’t good to use phenytoin in a drug-like manner. We were limited in our investigation because it was retrospective in nature. The data from this study may be used to carry out a randomized controlled trial. Seizure recurrence is well documented so that it can be used as a primary outcome measurement. Students Shani Zitter, Rebecca Radwani, and Agnieszka Bulanda, for their contributions to the study’s data collection, are sincerely appreciated. Listen to the author’s interview about this article and others in the audio below.
Antiseizure medicine can be used to treat long-lasting seizures or multiple seizures in addition to the usual five minutes. A Dignity Health neurologist can prescribe medications to reduce or prevent seizures in patients with epilepsy. If the condition becomes more severe, it may necessitate an electrical stimulation or surgery.
The electrodes attached to your head can measure the electrical activity in your brain, which is referred to as an electroencephalogram (EEG). This allows them to figure out whether or not another seizure is likely, as well as rule out other possibilities.
Most seizures last about 30 seconds to two minutes, and no emergency medical care is required. It is critical to call 911 as soon as possible if you suspect someone has a seizure that lasts more than two minutes or they lose consciousness and do not regain consciousness.
