Audit Matters 10-02

 

There will be a chance for collaborators and the curious, young and old to meet up at the BPNA conference in Liverpool, at about 14.00 on Saturday 11-01-03. It would be worth confirming time and venue when we arrive in Liverpool.  This will be a fairly informal meeting with some discussion on topics which are currently running or which anyone would like to bring up.

 

1.                BPNA Audit Toolbox Still work in progress, I hope Carlos De Sousa and I will be able to launch it at the January 2003 meeting.

 

2.                Guillaine Barre syndrome The web based guideline / outline care path set up by Deirdre Peake (SpR Birmingham) should be ready for all to view (and comment on) by January 2003 too. The related detailed Alder Hey GBS care path is well underway.

Contact Richard Appleton (Liverpool)

 

3.               Idiopathic (benign) Intracranial Hypertension Cathy White and Alison Giles have analysed the results of a BPNA survey of how we think we manage “BIH” and an abstract has been submitted for the Liverpool meeting. Ming Lim (SpR Guy’s) and JP Lin are still working on refining the audit data collection and investigating ethics committee approval.

Contact Cathy White (Swansea)

 

4.               Acute Transverse Myelopathy Mike Pike has started a BPSU style survey (the 1st BPNA-SU audit), some of you will have received a letter. Please please support this initiative. Some conditions are too rarely seen in general paediatrics for the BPSU to take them on. The same applies to the next item.

Contact Mike Pike (Oxford)

 

5.               Dancing Eye syndrome (opsoclonus-myoclonus) Mike Pike has also taken a lead in setting up a clinical audit, prognosis study and linked laboratory study. Mike has been visiting Paediatric Neurology departments and processing local Research Ethics Committee applications in the last few months. He already has MREC approval, so the project will soon be off the ground!

Contact Mike Pike (Oxford)

 

6.                First clinic attendance with suspected epilepsy Further work on this using the BPNA audit tool has been undertaken in Nottingham by Daniel Albert (SHO) and Colin Dunkley (SpR). An abstract has been submitted to the Liverpool meeting, and a revised audit tool should be ready for January.

 

7.                Convulsive Status Epilepticus in A&E a prospective audit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, using a modified BPNA tool was published:

Quershi A, Wassmer E, Davies P, Berry K, Whitehouse WP. Comparative audit of intravenous lorazepam and diazepam in the emergency treatment of convulsive status epilepticus in children. Seizure 2002;11:141-144.

 

8.                Other topics at various stages ADEM; Steroid treatment for epilepsy; Headache and Headache Clinics; One year review after first clinic attendance with suspected epilepsy; Seizure clinic patient / carer satisfaction; Refractory status epilepticus on PICU; Nutritional and biochemical effects of ketogenic diets; child’s Glasgow coma scale.

 

Anyone with a bright and easy way of auditing the quality of diagnosis of epilepsies and their differential diagnoses please get in touch! Perhaps the 1-year after 1st attendance would be a way?

 

Contact William Whitehouse (Nottingham) for further information.

william.whitehouse@nottingham.ac.uk

 

William Whitehouse

Nottingham