Authors :
Presenting Author: Thomas Finnegan, PhD – Medscape Education
Kathy Merlo, PhD – Medscape Education
Ann Carothers, BS – Medscape Education
Tracy Glauser, MD – Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
Rationale:
Epilepsy is characterized by seizures with unpredictable frequency that significantly impair health and quality of life. Patients with epilepsy who are treated with antiseizure medications may continue to have prolonged seizures, seizure clusters, and other seizure emergencies. Contributors to suboptimal outcomes in people who continue to experience seizures include a lack of a seizure action plan (SAP) and the underuse of seizure rescue medications for eligible patients. Clinicians would benefit from improved awareness on the integration of SAPs and the use of seizure rescue medications across the lifespan of patients. A study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of an online educational intervention to improve knowledge, competence, and confidence among primary care physicians and neurologists on the use of SAPs and seizure rescue therapies.
Methods:
The online continuing medical education (CME) activity format consisted of an 80-minutes video discussion between four epileptologists and 3 patient advocates which was recorded during a live CME-certified symposium at the 2024 American Epilepsy Society annual meeting. Educational effect was assessed by comparing a matched sample of neurology provider responses to four identical questions presented before and directly after exposure to the intervention. A paired samples t-test was used for overall average number of correct responses and for confidence rating and a McNemar’s test was used to identify significant differences between pre- and post-assessment question responses. Cohen’s d was used to calculate the effect size of the online education. Data from the participants were collected between December 23, 2024 and January 29, 2025.
Results:
Among those clinicians who participated in the CME program, PCPs (n=141; d=.65; p< 0.001) demonstrated a greater educational effect than neurologists (n=52; d=.43; p< 0.01). PCPs demonstrated a greater pre-vs-post relative change across all three pre-post questions than neurologists: revisions to a seizure action plan prior to a young person attending college (36% [PCP] vs 10% [neurologist] relative pre-post difference); selecting an appropriate seizure rescue medication (56% [PCP] vs 25% [neurologist] relative pre-post difference); when to develop a seizure action plan for an older adult after a recent epilepsy diagnosis (16% [PCP] vs 11% [neurologist] relative pre-post difference). After participating in the activity, 52% of PCPs and 65% of neurologists reported an increase in confidence in their ability to identify patients across age groups who may benefit from the use of a seizure rescue medication.
Conclusions:
The results indicated that this CME-certified 80-minutes video discussion between physician experts was effective at improving awareness among neurologists and PCPs regarding both seizure action plans and seizure rescue medications, though the effect of education of was greater among PCPs. Future education should prioritize the needs of PCPs as it relates to developing seizure actions plans and the use of seizure rescue medications.
Funding:
The educational activity and outcomes analysis were funded through an independent educational grant from Neurelis, Inc.