The nurses I work with and I are to give a presentation on seizures today. Our focus group is the staff of the school we work at. I never thought so much about seizures before I started working here. It’s funny but clusters of diagnosis occur in different schools in different parts of the city. When I was in training I had to visit schools in Harlem, NY. At those schools asthma was the “big” or important diagnosis. I was witness to a student who was 911’d for an acute asthma attack.
Here at my school, seizure disorder/epilepsy are the more prevalent prevalent diagnosis. At first I was terrified of a student having a seizure. I felt so helpless. I’ve since gained confidence in that area of my practice. I know how to treat the person if they have medications ordered by their physician and I know how to use what’s called a Vagus nerve stimulating magnet (VNS). The VNS magnet gives a surge of electricity to the person’s brain in the event of a seizure. There are specific parameters defined by the student’s physician on how to use the VNS magnet.
We are to give our presentation to the teachers here and then to the paraprofessionals. It was totally a group effort to put it together. And my supervisor forwarded the presentation to his supervisor and we received an email complimenting us on the work we did and that she was going to forward the presentation to their staff development department to see if they will use it. I thought that was pretty awesome.
Menay O; mom to 4, Christian and thrift shopper on the side... 