The patient experience of video-telemetry
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The person's experience of video-telemetry: a reflexive thematic analysis
IRAS ID
361206
Contact name
Lucy Knights
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 1 days
Research summary
Videotelemetry supports healthcare professionals to identify what type of seizures someone is experiencing. Depending on whether seizures are epileptic or non-epileptic, different treatments are recommended to manage seizure activity.
Videotelemetry involves a hospital stay of up to seven days. During this time, the person is videoed continuously and undergoes a variety of tests. During videotelemetry, there is an increased risk of injury, and in rarer cases of death, as people often have their medication reduced to increase the chance of observable seizures.
When people have videotelemetry they might feel hopeful that it will lead to a treatment pathway whilst also feeling anxious due to the above mentioned risks. There is little research exploring the experience of having videotelemetry from the person’s perspective, which is the aim of this study.
To take part, the person must have been referred for videotelemetry by their consultant for the first time, be aged 18+ and be able to take part in an interview lasting up to 90 minutes. Participants will be NHS Lothian patients.
Before starting videotelemetry, the researcher will capture any hopes and fears the person has about videotelemetry. Following discharge from hospital an interview will take place to gather information about their experience of videotelemetry. Some interview questions will build on the hopes and fears participants identified at the beginning of the study.
The researcher intends to interview between 10-20 people to gather a range of experiences. Interview data will be analysed using reflexive thematic analysis which allows themes across the interviewees to be identified. It is hoped that the findings will improve the experience for future videotelemetry patients.
The findings of the study will be shared with relevant healthcare professionals and will be submitted to a scientific journal for publication.
REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/PR/0451
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jun 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion