Abstract
BACKGROUND: The epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) is a clinical setting designed to help diagnose and analyze the nature behind a patient's seizures in a hospitalized unit. Patients admitted to an EMU may experience sleep deprivation, withdrawal of antiepileptic medications, and the use of a continuous electroencephalogram. The purpose of this study was to explore change in patient comfort during an EMU admission. METHODS: The Epilepsy Monitoring Unit Comfort Questionnaire (EMUCQ) was used to evaluate the initial stress level of EMU patients on their date of admission versus their fourth day on the unit. RESULTS: The average EMUCQ score from the admission date was 196.6 (26.28), whereas the mean EMUCQ score on the fourth day was 197.8 (24.79). The P value of.802 and t value of 0.25 indicated that the scores were not statistically significantly different. CONCLUSION: Although some scores indicated there was a large change between baseline and follow-up, these scores could not be readily attributed to the patient's length of stay in the unit. Future studies should examine the role of specific variables hypothesized to impact comfort in the EMU.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 217-221 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Journal of Neuroscience Nursing |
Volume | 55 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2023 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- coping
- epilepsy
- length of stay
- nursing
- research
- seizure
- stress
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery
- Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
- Clinical Neurology
- Medical–Surgical