Careful attention to these often difficult regimens can be crucial to maintaining good seizure control. Unfortunately, for some the side effects from AEDs can be intolerable, or seizure control may not be adequate, significantly compromising the person's quality of life. The critical role the nurse can play in caring for the patient with epilepsy is often underestimated. Nurses can do a great deal to help ensure that patients and their families are prepared to manage their epilepsy and to achieve the treatment goal of reduced seizure frequency or severity. However, this goal can be threatened if patients and families do not know or understand what they should or should not do.
Most people know next to nothing about epilepsy when they receive the diagnosis.
They are unaware of treatment options, and most are not prepared to become informed consumers of health care. Unfortunately, many patients receive an inadequate amount of information and are ill-equipped to deal effectively with the disorder. The nurse's role as an educator can be crucial to the patient's ability to cope with epilepsy after discharge from the hospital. For example, medication noncompliance is a major cause of breakthrough seizures in these patients. Also emphasize that good seizure control does not indicate that AED therapy is no longer needed.