If you rely on medical dramas such as House and Grey's Anatomy for accurate information on how to treat seizures then you're being let down, a new study suggests.Canadian researchers have had a look through popular medical dramas House, Grey's Anatomy, ER
If you rely on medical dramas such as House and Grey’s Anatomy for accurate information on how to treat seizures then you’re being let down, a new study suggests.
Canadian researchers have had a look through popular medical dramas House, Grey’s Anatomy, ER and Private Practice to find out if these shows are educating the public about first aid and seizures.
They found that in 327 episodes studied there were 59 seizures, 51 of them taking place inside a hospital, with the vast majority of first aid being performed by nurses or doctors.
But in 25 incidents or nearly 46% of the seizures the researchers found inappropriate actions such as holding the person down, trying to stop involuntary movements or putting something in the person’s mouth.
An appropriate first-aid response was show in only 17 cases (29%) while the appropriateness of the first aid couldn’t be determined in the other 15 incidents (25%).
Researcher Andrew Moeller from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia said it was a concern that television dramas showed incorrect first aid for seizures nearly half the time.
“People with epilepsy should lobby the television industry to adhere to guidelines for first aid management of seizures,” he said in a statement.
Epilepsy.com provides some advice for giving first aid to people suffering seizures here.
Recommendations include keeping anything that could injure the person out of reach during the seizure and placing the person on his left side afterwards with his head turned in case of post-seizure vomit.
