PED4PED
Research type
Research Study
Full title
People with Epilepsy sharing Data for care with Paramedics and the Emergency Department - Paramedic Interviews
IRAS ID
275018
Contact name
Alex Astor
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 30 days
Research summary
Epilepsy is one of many chronic diseases (e.g. diabetes, asthma, mental health conditions) that can have acute exacerbations requiring urgent care. When an ambulance is called for someone that has had a seizure, paramedics do not have access to information that can inform acute management: diagnosis, usual seizure type, rescue medication protocol, place of safety or next of kin. As a result many patients are taken to the emergency department (ED) unnecessarily. Similarly, staff in the ED do not have access to this information, resulting in unnecessary admissions, investigations and potential treatment errors.
To help redress this, and as a demonstration project, two STPs in North-West England are creating a health information exchange to give front-line clinicians access to the medical records of people with epilepsy. It is anticipated that a pilot version of the system – called PED4PED – will be launched in Spring 2019.
We have funding to conduct an 11 month study to rapidly explore the utility of the PED4PED system and identify lessons for future roll-out and system extensions. The project will interview paramedics who have had access to the system and managed seizures to explore their views of the system.
REC name
N/A
REC reference
N/A