Improving Emergency Management of Status Epilepticus - a High-fidelity Simulator-based Randomized Controlled Trial

Status epilepticus (SE) is a life-threatening neurological emergency defined as a state of continuous seizure or multiple seizures without full recovery of sensory, motor and/or cognitive function for at least 30 minutes. To achieve high quality management of SE, the American Epilepsy Society published an evidence-based guideline for the treatment of SE, which serves as reference for most national guidelines, but analyses regarding practicability, strict adherence, correct translation into clinical practice, and identification of recommended treatment steps at risk of being modified or missed are lacking. Simulator-based studies offer a platform for the design of standardized clinical scenarios that enable detailed investigations regarding the effect of the implementation and practicability of treatment guidelines.

This randomized controlled intervention study performed at the simulation center of the medical intensive care units (ICUs) at the University Hospital Basel is to investigate the effectiveness of pre-briefing physicians with both the current guideline on Status epilepticus (SE) treatment or a consolidated "one page" guideline regarding quality enhancement of the physicians' clinical performances..

Physicians from different medical specialties and with different duration of clinical experience will be enrolled. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the following three pre-briefing groups: (1) no pre-briefing prior to the simulation training; (2) pre-briefing with the current SE treatment guidelines; (3) pre-briefing with the consolidated "one page" SE treatment guideline.