To learn how to respond to someone having a seizure it’s probably a good idea to check sources other than prime time television shows. Researchers who screened the most popular medical dramas found that doctors and nurses on these programs failed to  properly respond to patients having seizures almost half the time, according to a study that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010.

 

For the study, researchers screened all episodes of the highest-rated U.S. medical dramas: Grey's Anatomy, House, M.D., and Private Practice, and the last five seasons of ER for seizures. In the 327 episodes, 59 seizures occurred. Of those, 51 seizures took place in a hospital. Nearly all first aid was performed by nurses or doctors.

 

Guidelines on seizure management were used to determine whether the seizure was handled properly. The study found that inappropriate practices, including holding the person down, trying to stop involuntary movements or putting something in the person's mouth occurred in 25 cases, nearly 46 percent of the time.

 

First aid management was shown appropriately in 17 seizures, or about 29 percent of the time. Appropriateness of first aid could not be determined in 15 incidents of seizures, or 25 percent.

 

“Television dramas are a potentially powerful method of educating the public about first aid and seizures,” says study author Andrew Moeller, with Dalhousie University, Halifax, in Nova Scotia, Canada. “Our results, showing that television shows inaccurately showed seizure management half the time, are a call to action. People with epilepsy should lobby the television industry to adhere to guidelines for first aid management of seizures.”