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Epilepsy Nurses
Working group 20

Nurses and EEG technicians

Partnership between medical experts in rare and complex epilepsies with families and patients suffering from them is an important mission of EpiCARE.

What is this Working Group about?

Nurses and EEG technicians working at epilepsy monitoring units and/or for Neurophysiology, Neurology and Child Neurology Dpts. that care for patients with epilepsy are an essential partner of a multi-disciplinary team.

They are the ones who have an everyd SPATA5 in Rome second rounday contact with the patients and their families, perform the EEG (one of the most essential diagnostic tools), provide counselling on how to take anti-seizure medication or follow a ketogenic diet, administer rescue medications, test the patients during a seizure to better identify localization signs but also protect them from accidents, etc.

The WG was made a part of the ERN EpiCARE programme in late 2022. Its creation results from the successful exchange program (2020-22), funded by the management budget of EpiCARE, supporting nurses and EEG technicians working at EpiCARE centres to visit othe monitoring units. It was launched during a workshop held in Utrecht (06/23) at the EpiCaRE annual meeting, involving nurses and VEEG technicians working in the field of epilepsy care and epilepsy monitoring units.

The upcoming tasks are:

  • Undertake a coordinated literature review of monitoring practices and the differences in units/centres in the EU.
  • Compare and contrast monitoring practice guidelines from ERN EpiCare centres.
  • Prepare a manuscript (for submission to an appropriate journal) with findings and recommendations.
  • Produce a manuscript on the reasonings behind the launch of this WG and its benefits and aims.
  • Assess the learning and practice needs of epilepsy nurses and EEG technicians
  • working in Europe;
  • Contribute to the development, and adapt to European standards and needs, of
  • an education curriculum for epilepsy nurses and EEG technicians.
  • Learn from each other and improve patient care.

The WG works in close collaboration with the Nursing section of the ILAE.

If you are interested to voluntarily contribute to this WG activities, please use the contact form to let us know.

Be reassured, we do everything possible to reduce difficulties due to language barriers.

76 nurses and EEG technicians from 20 countries sharing their experience.

Leaders

Nicola Lawrence

Nurse

Great Ormond Street Hospital

London, UK

Core group

Related material and links

July 2025. Munich (Germany). Nicola Lawrence. Can you briefly tell us about the difficulties you are facing in developing a WG to involve nurses and EEG technicians working in epilepsy centres. What are your first impressions since the launching of this WG in June 2023?

Teaching Video-Pills

Tips4EEG are short videos that illustrate the various aspects of performing a reliable standard EEG, from montages to activation procedures and some elements of polygraphy. It is useful for nurses and health care professionals, in order to provide the background information about the execution of the diagnostic test and its usefulness.

The videos are are also available in Italian on the LICE website.

If you are interested to voluntarily contribute to this WG activities, please use the contact form to let us know.