International Epilepsy Awareness Day | There are more than 9 million epilepsy patients in my country. Epilepsy is not an incurable disease.

June 28th is the 16th "International Epilepsy Awareness Day", and this year's theme is "Improving Compliance, Not Just Me, Not Just You". Epilepsy is a common neurological disease that affects tens of millions of people worldwide. It is estimated that there are about 9 million epilepsy patients in China, and about 400,000 new epilepsy patients each year. If epilepsy patients do not receive effective and reasonable treatment, their condition cannot be controlled, which not only brings great pain to the patients themselves, but also seriously increases the burden on their families and society.

In fact, epilepsy is not an incurable disease. 70% of epilepsy patients can achieve satisfactory results through conventional first-line anti-epileptic drug treatment. Therefore, scientific and standardized diagnosis and treatment is the key to dealing with epilepsy.

As all sectors of society are turning their attention to patients with epilepsy and neurological diseases, we went to Tianjin Huanhu Hospital and interviewed the hospital's Party Secretary Ge Le to learn about the work of the Epilepsy Center and see how this hospital is patient-centered and takes multiple measures to provide patients with multidisciplinary integrated diagnosis and treatment services.

Multi-wheel drive, multi-disciplinary collaboration in epilepsy benefits the people

During the interview, Secretary Ge Le mentioned a female patient he met during the ward rounds. She was very sad. "She was 40 years old and had been taken care of by her 70-year-old mother. She was not married. Because of epilepsy, she could lose control of herself at any time due to abnormal brain waves. This could have a lifelong impact on a person or a family. This requires the care and attention of our hospital managers, medical workers, and the whole society."

Ge Le, Party Secretary of Tianjin Huanhu Hospital

Epilepsy, commonly known as "epilepsy" or "epilepsy", is a chronic disease in which brain neurons suddenly discharge abnormally, leading to temporary brain dysfunction. Among its causes, common causes for infants and adolescents are congenital developmental abnormalities, birth injuries, infections and genetic factors. For adults, brain trauma, brain tumors, cerebrovascular diseases, intracranial infections, Alzheimer's disease and other nervous system diseases, as well as serious systemic diseases, can all be causes of epilepsy.

Epilepsy is not an incurable disease. After regular anti-epileptic drug treatment, the seizures of about 70% of patients can be controlled. Currently, the treatment of epilepsy includes drug therapy, surgical treatment, ketogenic diet, neuromodulation, etc.

In recent years, under the advocacy of Secretary Ge Le, Huanhu Hospital has innovated its development concept, vigorously promoted a patient-centered, multidisciplinary centralized platform diagnosis and treatment model, improved the technical capabilities and service level of neurological disease specialists, and enhanced the people's sense of medical gain. In October 2021, Huanhu Hospital was awarded the first batch of "Epilepsy Centers" in the country. The center integrates the strength of multidisciplinary teams such as neurology, neurosurgery, neuroimaging, neuroelectrophysiology, neuropsychology, and neurorehabilitation, and has carried out epilepsy specialty clinics, epilepsy special clinics, epilepsy joint clinics, epilepsy multidisciplinary MDT clinics, team-level diagnosis and treatment, Internet clinics, multimodal dynamic EEG long-term monitoring, joint internal and external ward rounds, multidisciplinary preoperative positioning discussions and postoperative follow-up, built an epilepsy specialty database, conducted epidemiological surveys in the community, and explored the prevention and treatment model of high-risk populations of epilepsy in the community. Strive to enable every epilepsy patient to receive more scientific and standardized diagnosis and treatment services and achieve precision treatment. At present, the Epilepsy Center of Huanhu Hospital is one of the comprehensive bases in Tianjin that can perform positioning, drug treatment, surgical evaluation, and close integration of internal and external surgery for imaging-negative focal epilepsy.

"During the construction process, doctors have been working intensively in sub-specialty areas, with epilepsy, vertigo, syncope and other paroxysmal diseases as their specialties, to serve people with this disease group. At the same time, they have combined the improvement of medical technology, the improvement of service concepts, and the optimization of management processes. It not only has specialty characteristics, but also enables internal and external surgery collaboration, complementary advantages and coordinated development. In the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy, the patient-centered concept is always put first." Yue Wei, the leader of the epilepsy discipline and director of the 7th Department of Neurology of Huanhu Hospital, said this when talking about the development of the department and the construction of the center.

Caring for epilepsy patients and correctly understanding epilepsy

When we find someone around us having an epileptic seizure, don't panic. It is important to master the correct way to deal with it. "When you see someone having an epileptic seizure, you may make some wrong decisions out of worry. Here we must remember "two protections" and "two attentions". The first is to protect the patient himself and keep the patient in a low position to prevent falls, abrasions, etc. during the attack. At the same time, the rescuer himself must also be protected. The patient's teeth cannot be forcibly pried open or objects are stuffed into the mouth. This will cause the risk of suffocation or biting the rescuer. The second is to pay attention to keeping the breathing unobstructed and observe. Gently tilt the patient's head to one side so that respiratory secretions can flow out naturally. Pay attention to observe and record the time of the epileptic seizure. Once the whole body convulsion exceeds 5 minutes, the patient should be immediately sent to the nearest hospital." Director Yue Wei introduced the first aid for epilepsy.

Yue Wei, chief physician of the Department of Neurology, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital

So how can epilepsy patients effectively prevent seizures? Director Yue Wei said: "The first is to strictly follow the doctor's instructions to take medication, ensure the correct medication time and dosage, and seek help from the doctor in a timely manner. The second is to avoid the occurrence of inducing factors, such as staying up late, fatigue, colds, mental stress, emotional excitement, irregular diet, etc., to ensure adequate sleep, and more importantly, to adjust your mood."

Due to misunderstandings and prejudices about epilepsy, patients with epilepsy feel ashamed of their disease. "Putting humanistic care on an equal footing with treatment, eliminating prejudices, increasing care and concern, and helping the general public to establish a correct understanding of epilepsy, so that patients can receive timely and accurate treatment and social support." This is Director Yue Wei's appeal to the whole society.

Improve both internal and external aspects and build a new multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment model that is "patient-centered"

Tianjin Huanhu Hospital was founded in 1988. It is the first medical institution in Tianjin to carry out hypothermia treatment for neurotrauma and cerebrovascular interventional surgery. Although this Class-A tertiary neurological specialty hospital does not have a long history, it is precisely this spirit of "creativity" and "pragmatism" that has been accumulated and passed down that continues to gain praise and reputation from patients.

For patients with neurological diseases, "time is brain". The earlier the treatment, the better the effect and the fewer sequelae. However, in the face of sudden diseases, it is difficult for patients and their families to make judgments and decisions in the fastest time whether to go to the neurology department or neurosurgery department. However, at Huanhu Hospital, a significant initiative has allowed patients and their families to find a shortcut to regain their lives.

Under the leadership of Secretary Ge Le, the Party Committee of Huanhu Hospital strengthened the direction of multidisciplinary integration development of the hospital. On November 1, 2021, the hospital established a cerebrovascular disease integration ward and officially started trial operation. The integration ward is composed of neurosurgeons, neurologists and cerebrovascular disease nursing teams. At the same time, it integrates the power of emergency, medical imaging, mental psychology, rehabilitation medicine and even pre-hospital emergency 120, and uses the strength of the whole hospital to carry out standardized treatment of diseases, improve patients' prognosis, and enhance patients' medical experience.

"In the integrated ward, internists and surgeons work as a team in the same trench. Internists have also mastered interventional and minimally invasive surgical treatment techniques, and surgeons can provide patients with drug treatment and subsequent rehabilitation plans, breaking the inherent situation of 'internal medicine only cares about taking medicine, and surgery only cares about surgery.' We work together to provide patients with multidisciplinary joint diagnosis and treatment and integrated full-life cycle medical services." Secretary Ge Le said this when talking about the integrated ward.

The truth is revealed in the details, creating a warm hospital

In 2021, it advanced from "B" to "A" in the national tertiary public hospital performance assessment, and ranked 17th among the 112 specialized hospitals (surgical groups) in the country. At the beginning of this year, it won the 2020-2021 "Public Medical Institution Economic Management Year" Outstanding Unit, and is the only hospital in the city to receive this honor. Along the way, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital has achieved remarkable results but has not changed its original intention. "Patients' needs" is the starting point and foothold of reform and development, and has always been regarded as a criterion by the Party Committee of Huanhu Hospital.

"With so many people coming to see the doctor every day, I thought the MRI examination would have to be scheduled at least a week later, but I didn't expect it to be done so quickly!" Aunt Liu, who came to the imaging department of Huanhu Hospital for an MRI examination, couldn't help but exclaim. The diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases are inseparable from imaging examinations. The hospital has made every effort to shorten the waiting time for examinations and the time to issue reports by increasing shifts and flexible scheduling, so that patients can receive treatment as soon as possible and solve their pain.

During the epidemic, the hospital overcame numerous difficulties, added a new thrombolysis emergency rescue unit, re-arranged and adjusted the emergency room, and freed up space as a dedicated area for emergency thrombolysis. Under the normalized epidemic prevention and control, not a single patient's treatment was delayed.

At Huanhu Hospital, 50% of patients are critically ill, which is a very high proportion among tertiary hospitals. The emergency department is the front line. In a prominent area of ​​each emergency room, the hospital director's phone number is posted, and patients can call and express their demands anytime and anywhere. The hospital takes the initiative to explain its care and policies, and resolves the dissatisfaction and anxiety of the masses one by one. "Patient-centered, sometimes to heal, often to help, always to comfort", here, everything is warm.

The hospital has established an Internet + patient follow-up service center, integrated a service hotline, and aggregated various consultation telephones originally scattered in the outpatient department, inpatient department, finance department, medical insurance department, and medical department into one switchboard, providing 24-hour consultation, appointment registration, online triage guidance and other services; "Let patients make a phone call to solve all the difficulties and problems encountered in Huanhu Hospital." This is Secretary Ge Le's promise to the people seeking medical treatment.

On the occasion of the 16th "International Epilepsy Awareness Day", Tianjin Huanhu Hospital stands at a higher historical starting point and always adheres to the "patient-centered" purpose. Its academic status in the national neurology specialty will be further enhanced, and hospital management will be more refined, scientific, and standardized to ensure medical quality and medical safety, striving to benefit more people in Tianjin and even the whole country, and open up a new situation for high-quality development of hospitals in the new era.