Seizure Safety Precautions (Nursing)

00:04 As a nurse, I would like to talk to you about seizures.

00:07 Now, this maybe something you don’t think you are going to ever encounter, but this can happen in the O.B. world, in the pediatric world, this can happen in Med-Surg or even in the ICU.

00:17 So, this is why it is a really important topic that I want you to be prepared as a nurse and today we are going to talk about seizure precautions and management of a generalized seizure.

00:28 So, when we are talking about seizure precautions, we are talking about a set of standardized nursing interventions or equipment, and/or equipment, that are put in place to protect those individuals we are worried about having a seizure or at high risk.

00:45 So, which patients are we talking about? We are talking of patients that have maybe a diagnosis of epilepsy for example.

00:52 So, if you are wondering what epilepsy is, that’s a specific seizure disorder.

00:57 Also, any patient with maybe a severe electrolyte disturbance, they are also a risk for seizure along with those with alcohol withdrawal symptoms, those with meningitis.

01:08 And also, patients with traumatic brain injuries and especially stroke.

01:14 So, what are going to need to protect our patients? So, first of all we need oxygen, to help them support their oxygen status.

01:21 Also, if you have a pulse oximeter, we can get an exact read on read on the oxygen level of our patient.

01:26 Don’t forget to have IV catheter setup.

01:29 We want to have these supplies handy because we may need to administer antiseizure medications.

01:35 Next, we want to make sure we have suction available.

01:39 This is really important because aspirations are high risk for seizures, so we want to have this handy as well.

01:45 And don’t forget our vital sign machine.

01:47 This is really important to figure out the hemodynamic status of our patient, especially after they have had the seizure.