Workshop on "FIRST AID MANAGEMENT OF EPILEPSY"

               School of Public Health, PGIMER in association with National Rural Health Mission, UT Chandigarh is organizing a series of workshops on “First aid management of Epilepsy” for school teachers and students of U.T. Chandigarh from 7th May 2012 to 10th May 2012 at its premises. These workshops are part of the project entitled “Evaluating the impact of comprehensive epilepsy education programme for school teachers in Chandigarh city” sponsored by NRHM U.T. Chandigarh. The project is led by principal investigator Dr. Sonu Goel, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health PGIMER Chandigarh along with co-investigators Dr. Amarjeet Singh, Professor and Dr. Navpreet, Senior Resident, both from School of Public Health PGIMER Chandigarh; Dr. Vivek Lal, Professor, department of Neurology PGIMER Chandigarh; and Dr. Paramjyoti, In-charge School Health Programme, U.T. Chandigarh. This workshop and related activities are being dedicated to the Golden Jubilee celebration of PGIMER, Chandigarh.Epilepsy affects nearly 50 million people worldwide. Epilepsy accounts for one percent of the global burden of disease; however, 80% of the burden of epilepsy is in the developing countries. Epilepsy is a grave social stigma in most societies. It also leads to increased risk of mortality and morbidity. In India, it has been reported that school teachers and students lack knowledge regarding the appropriate first aid action to be taken for epilepsy management. Various wrong practices and myths associated with epilepsy have also been reported among students.
             In India, school teachers have a pivotal role in dissemination of knowledge and development of positive attitude towards any disease among school children. There is, thus, a definite need for an intensive health education of teachers on various aspects of epilepsy to mitigate the myths and misconceptions associated with epilepsy. They can play a key role in first aid management of seizure (fit) among school children.
              Similarly, school students will also be trained on first aid management of epilepsy. These students will act as peer educators for their fellows in schools once they have been trained.
             The Principal Investigator, Dr. Sonu Goel along with two Co-Investigators, Dr. Amarjeet Singh and Dr. Vivek Lal from PGIMER Chandigarh has developed a manual for school teachers and children on ‘First Aid Management of Epilepsy in School Settings’ in Hindi and English languages, which will be distributed to students and teachers during the workshop . They were also involved in training of school students in U.T Chandigarh under another earlier project undertaken in few schools in 2011. The response during training was quite encouraging so, it was decided to expand the same to include students from more of schools and to train teachers also.
             Keeping this in mind, the present workshop has been planned with an objective of enhancing knowledge and skills about epilepsy among school teachers and students. One teacher and one student from randomly selected 100 schools of U.T. Chandigarh city will be trained in first aid management of epilepsy.
               During workshop, various myths associated with epilepsy, its signs & symptoms and the first aid management will be explained to participants by the experts. A self instructional training manual, prepared with the help of available simple texts on epilepsy, its misconceptions and first aid treatment will also be provided to participants during workshop. For better interaction and understanding, the participants will be called group-wise on an appointed day to School of Public Health in batches. A pre-tested questionnaire will be administered to the participants for assessing their baseline knowledge about epilepsy, its first aid treatment and wrong/ harmful seizure control practices. After that, participants will be trained about first aid management of epilepsy with the help of interactive presentations, videos, role plays, demonstrations on dummy etc. to simulate real life situations. Post intervention evaluation of the level of knowledge and practices of participants of both the groups will also be done. It is envisaged that the similar teachings on first aid management of epilepsy should be replicated to all schools of Chandigarh under School Health Programme.

Proceedings