Our primary objective is to measure the time from establishment of the diagnosis of Status Epilepticus (SE) to administration of  Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) with the secondary objective to implement a protocol  to shorten the time to administer the second line AEDs.

This is a retrospective data collection study with extraction and analysis of clinical data obtained from the review of the electronic medical records of patients aged 18-85 years presenting to a comprehensive epilepsy center in Springfield, IL with status epilepticus during a time period of 6 months. We collected demographic data and the time from presentation to administration of AEDs. Average time to administer the anti-epileptic medication was calculated. 

We included 291 patients. The mean age was 52 years. 54.6% were female. Although  the first line anti-seizure medication ex. lorazepam was started immediately upon presentation- in all patients there was a significant delay in initiation of the conventional second line AED loading dose with mean time of 90 minutes (+/- 22).

Initial treatment is often delayed in the hospital setting. The FEBSTAT study and a retrospective study at the University of Kentucky showed the AED administration time delay with averages of 30 and 71 minutes respectively. Our study showed the same with an average of 90 minutes. Therefore, we would like to use the results of this quality improvement project to help us improve care for our patients.