FRIEND v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Dissociative or Functional seizuRes (DS) In the Emergency Department: exploring the patient experience
IRAS ID
330508
Contact name
Salini Zaini
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Dissociative seizures (DS) look like epilepsy or blackouts. They can be hard to tell apart but are not the
same. Both seizure types can cause unresponsiveness for over 10 minutes and lead to attendance in the emergency department (ED). When epileptic seizures do not stop on their own, they need to be stopped with medication, which can make DS worse. DS can stop with removal of factors increasing anxiety. People with DS have a long delay in getting the right treatment, and that emergency care for them is poor. There are no studies so far that focus on their ED care. We plan to see how we can improve the emergency care for this group of patients.
The study is funded by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and it involves recruiting 15-20 eligible patients who have attended an ED in the previous 6 months with a DS episode. The study will be conducted by the research team based at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (RBFT). The recruitment period will be for 6 months. Consented participants will undergo a single one-to-one interview exploring their experience of the ED, and their responses will be analysed to identify common themes to characterise their experience, explore the patient pathway and describe any potential unmet needs. The outcome is to improve understanding of DS presenting to the ED, with a view to improve early recognition and diagnosis of DS within the ED, and/or contribute to departmental or hospital policy development in patients with DS.REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/SW/0099
Date of REC Opinion
16 Oct 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion