Making Schools Seizure Safe

There are 470,000 children living with epilepsy in the United States. Since children spend so many waking hours in school settings, it is critical that all school personnel, including nurses, know what epilepsy is, learn how to recognize seizures, and administer seizure first aid. For students living with epilepsy, schools must be well-equipped with the personnel and tools necessary to provide a safe and enriching environment.

Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Epilepsy Foundation designed a series of seizure training courses for school nurses and people who work with children and youth in school settings. The training focuses on the basics of epilepsy, procedures for responding to someone having a seizure, information about Seizure Action Plans, rescue medicines, and seizure emergencies.

We recently collaborated with the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) to bring seizure first aid training to approximately 1,000 school nurses at the NASN Conference this past June. The in-person training helped drive awareness about epilepsy among school nurses who attended the conference and also provided information, strategies, as well as resources to help them better manage students with seizures.

Direct access to school nursing and other health services, as well as disease-specific education, has been shown to improve health and academic outcomes among students with chronic health conditions. That is why the collaboration with the NASN is so important. Proper seizure first aid and continuity of care while at school is crucial to ensuring students with epilepsy can reach their full potential with as minimal disruption to their learning environment as possible.

As the Epilepsy Foundation continues to advance its nationwide initiative to pass Seizure Safe Schools legislation in all states (16 states have enacted legislation to date), trainings like these are key to ensuring a uniform standard of care and response across the country so that students have access to the care they need while in school.

Back to school is around the corner! If you are a school nurse or on staff at a school, consider taking one of our free On-Demand trainings by visiting our Epilepsy Learning Portal.

Together we can build a seizure safe nation for all students.