The Efficacy and Use of a Pocket Card Algorithm in Status Epilepticus Treatment

Treatment Guideline Nonadherence Pretransport Associated With Need for Higher Level of Care in Children Transferred to a Pediatric Tertiary Care Center for Status Epilepticus

OBJECTIVES

We sought to investigate the association between adherence to the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 2016 guidelines for management of convulsive status epilepticus (SE) and clinical outcomes among children requiring interhospital transport for SE. We hypothesized that pretransport guideline nonadherence would be associated with needing higher level of care posttransfer.

METHODS

This was a retrospective cohort study of children aged 30 days to 18 years transferred to our pediatric tertiary center from 2017 to 2019 for management of SE. Their care episodes were classified as 2016 American Epilepsy Society guideline adherent or nonadherent. There were 40 referring hospitals represented in this cohort.

RESULTS

Of 260 care episodes, 55 (21%) were guideline adherent, 184 (71%) were guideline nonadherent, and 21 (8%) had insufficient data to determine guideline adherence. Compared with the adherent group, patients in the nonadherent care group had longer hospitalizations (32 hours [17-68] vs 21 hours [7-48], P = 0.006), were more likely to require intensive care unit admission (47% vs 31%), and less likely to be discharged home from the emergency department (16% vs 35%; χ 2 test, P = 0.01). Intubation rates did not differ significantly between groups (25% vs 18%, P = 0.37). When we fit a multivariable model to adjust for confounding variables, guideline nonadherence was associated with need for higher level of care (odds ratio, 2.04; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-3.99). Treatment guideline adherence did not improve over the 3-year study period (2017: 22%, 2018: 19%, 2019: 29% [χ 2 test for differences between any 2 years, P = 0.295]).

CONCLUSIONS

Guideline nonadherence pretransport was associated with longer hospitalizations and need for higher level of care among children transferred for SE at our institution. These findings suggest a need to improve SE guideline adherence through multifaceted quality improvement efforts targeting both the prehospital and community hospital settings.

Making SENSE of what we do - How to bring evidence to clinical practice

Status epilepticus is a frequent neurological emergency. Several audits and registries have enhanced our knowledge regarding patient demography, etiology, treatment, and outcome. Several large registries have also contributed significantly to current treatment guidelines that emphasize the importance of instant and effective treatment onset. Large registries also document that deviation from these treatment guidelines is not the exception but the rule. Therefore, careful analysis of the treatment pathways as well as balanced intervention efforts are necessary to overcome the gap between knowledge and action. This paper was presented at the 8th London-Innsbruck Colloquium on Status Epilepticus and Acute Seizures held in September 2022.