Читать книгу Emergency Medical Services - Группа авторов - Страница 382

Generalized convulsive seizures are frightening to observe and often result in EMS calls. Provoked seizures represent symptoms of an acute underlying medical or neurologic condition. However, seizures often occur without clear etiology or provocation. Epilepsy, sometimes referred to as a seizure disorder, is defined by recurrent unprovoked seizures.

It is estimated that between 1% and 2% of emergency department (ED) visits are for seizure‐related complaints, with many of these patients using EMS systems. Most receive advanced level care [1]. In one study, seizures accounted for almost 12% of pediatric EMS transports [2]. Seizures are a common cause of repeated ambulance use [3]. Every community has a cadre of patients with poorly controlled seizures or alcohol‐related seizures who use EMS frequently. This group of frequent users may lead to a casual indifference to all patients with seizures. EMS clinicians must recall that seizures at some level are the symptom of some central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction and initiate appropriate diagnostic and management steps to terminate seizures to lessen morbidity.