Knowledge and emotional attitudes of health care practitioners regarding patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures
Background Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNESs) are paroxysmal events that resemble epileptic seizures without concomitant changes in electroencephalograms (EEGs) or any other physiological cause. These seizures are one of the most common and dramatic conversion disorders. First responders trea...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Academia Brasileira de Neurologia (ABNEURO)
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0042-1758646 |
| _version_ | 1797975426820210688 |
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| author | Thani Sheikh Saker Mark Katson Sari Eran Herskovitz Moshe Herskovitz |
| author_facet | Thani Sheikh Saker Mark Katson Sari Eran Herskovitz Moshe Herskovitz |
| author_sort | Thani Sheikh Saker |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNESs) are paroxysmal events that resemble epileptic seizures without concomitant changes in electroencephalograms (EEGs) or any other physiological cause. These seizures are one of the most common and dramatic conversion disorders. First responders treat many PNES patients with unnecessary emergency abortive medication and sometimes even intubate them. Several of our PNES patients have complained they have experienced harsh attitudes from health care practitioners (HCPs), especially during their stay in the emergency room (ER).
Objective To assess the emotional attitude of HCPs toward PNES patients.
Methods We handed a questionnaire containing 23 questions regarding PNES patients to HCPs from emergency medicine, internal medicine, and neurology disciplines. The questions dealt with three categories: diagnosis, management, and emotional attitudes.
Results Overall, 47 HCPs participated in this study: 11 ER, 18 internal medicine, and 18 neurology practitioners. The HCP from those disciplines showed high knowledge and good management practice of PNES patients. On the other hand, the HCPs agreed with most emotional attitude statements regarding PNES patients, reflecting a high percentage of negative emotional attitudes toward this group of patients. We did not find any correlation between negative emotional attitude and HCP department, profession, or seniority.
Conclusions Although HCPs in our center perform good management practice regarding PNES patients, most reported a negative emotional attitude. This finding implies that what PNES patients feel regarding the harsh attitudes is also reflected by HCP views. Emotional attitudes towards PNES patients may not depend solely on the level of knowledge of the HCPs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:35:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f8b8e8e25fb64777b3a8178c82b648df |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0004-282X 1678-4227 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:35:20Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Academia Brasileira de Neurologia (ABNEURO) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria |
| spelling | doaj.art-f8b8e8e25fb64777b3a8178c82b648df2022-12-28T23:41:54ZengAcademia Brasileira de Neurologia (ABNEURO)Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria0004-282X1678-42272022-11-0180111097110310.1055/s-0042-1758646Knowledge and emotional attitudes of health care practitioners regarding patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizuresThani Sheikh Saker0Mark Katson1Sari Eran Herskovitz2Moshe Herskovitz3Rambam Health Care Center, Neurology Department, Haifa, Israel.Rambam Health Care Center, Neurology Department, Haifa, Israel.Ministry of Education, Department of Special Education, Afula, Israel.Rambam Health Care Center, Neurology Department, Haifa, Israel.Background Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNESs) are paroxysmal events that resemble epileptic seizures without concomitant changes in electroencephalograms (EEGs) or any other physiological cause. These seizures are one of the most common and dramatic conversion disorders. First responders treat many PNES patients with unnecessary emergency abortive medication and sometimes even intubate them. Several of our PNES patients have complained they have experienced harsh attitudes from health care practitioners (HCPs), especially during their stay in the emergency room (ER). Objective To assess the emotional attitude of HCPs toward PNES patients. Methods We handed a questionnaire containing 23 questions regarding PNES patients to HCPs from emergency medicine, internal medicine, and neurology disciplines. The questions dealt with three categories: diagnosis, management, and emotional attitudes. Results Overall, 47 HCPs participated in this study: 11 ER, 18 internal medicine, and 18 neurology practitioners. The HCP from those disciplines showed high knowledge and good management practice of PNES patients. On the other hand, the HCPs agreed with most emotional attitude statements regarding PNES patients, reflecting a high percentage of negative emotional attitudes toward this group of patients. We did not find any correlation between negative emotional attitude and HCP department, profession, or seniority. Conclusions Although HCPs in our center perform good management practice regarding PNES patients, most reported a negative emotional attitude. This finding implies that what PNES patients feel regarding the harsh attitudes is also reflected by HCP views. Emotional attitudes towards PNES patients may not depend solely on the level of knowledge of the HCPs.http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0042-1758646attitudeseizureshealth personnelhealth surveys |
| spellingShingle | Thani Sheikh Saker Mark Katson Sari Eran Herskovitz Moshe Herskovitz Knowledge and emotional attitudes of health care practitioners regarding patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria attitude seizures health personnel health surveys |
| title | Knowledge and emotional attitudes of health care practitioners regarding patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures |
| title_full | Knowledge and emotional attitudes of health care practitioners regarding patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures |
| title_fullStr | Knowledge and emotional attitudes of health care practitioners regarding patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures |
| title_full_unstemmed | Knowledge and emotional attitudes of health care practitioners regarding patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures |
| title_short | Knowledge and emotional attitudes of health care practitioners regarding patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures |
| title_sort | knowledge and emotional attitudes of health care practitioners regarding patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures |
| topic | attitude seizures health personnel health surveys |
| url | http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0042-1758646 |
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