FV 921. What Do Teachers Know about Epileptic Seizures or Epilepsy in School?

Issue: What do teachers know about epileptic seizures and the clinical picture of epilepsy? Do they feel confident to deal with an epileptic seizure in class and on school excursions?

Method: Following approval by the education authorities, 2,942 teachers at 84 schools in the city of Münster were invited to participate in a survey using a standardized questionnaire covering 32 questions on the subject.

Results: A total of 691 questionnaires were completed (20.3%). More than one-third knows someone with epilepsy personally; 24.7% of participants had been involved in an emergency epileptic incident at school; 12.7% had to actively intervene; 12.0% were only involved indirectly. Twenty per cent of the teachers knew that it is advisable to wait and see in the event of a seizure, 48.5% would administer emergency medication directly, 45.2% would attempt to soothe a convulsing child in some way, 15.2% would hold a child tight, and 25.3% would try to insert an object between the teeth (multiple answers possible). Over half the participants (53.0%) feel poorly or inadequately prepared to deal with a seizure, only 14.9% are confident to handle an acute situation of this kind; 68.7% are afraid the pupil might die during an epileptic seizure; 36.3% of the teachers were worried about the legal consequences of possible misconduct in a medical emergency; 78.6% would call a paramedic immediately.

Only 30.0% of the respondents would unquestioningly take a pupil suffering from epilepsy on a school excursion, 64.3% would do so only under certain conditions and 3.2% would not do so; 83.5% would like more information on interaction with epileptic pupils, preferably by means of training and brochures or through parents (38.5%) and the responsible pediatricians (32.9%); 90.3% of the teachers would talk to the parents about the epilepsy of their child with no reservation. However, a majority of teachers (62.8%) currently have no epileptic child in their class, which is surprising considering the prevalence of epileptic seizures.

Conclusion: Our data are comparable with results from Leipzig and Sachsen-Anhalt. It is astonishing how reluctant the teachers are to fill in a questionnaire which is designed to improve teacher safety in an emergency in schools. The entire teaching staff of schools has refused to take part in the survey on order of the school directors.

Our data clearly show the need for information on the subject: “Care of pupils during an acute epileptic seizure.” Appropriate training courses will now be provided for all teachers in Münster.

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).