Chandigarh : School of Public Health, PGIMER in collaboration with National Rural Health Mission, UT Chandigarh started a series of workshops on “First aid management of Epilepsy” for school teachers and students of U.T. Chandigarh today on 7th May 2012 at its premises. These workshops are part of the project entitled “Evaluating the impact of comprehensive epilepsy education programme for school teachers in Chandigarh city” sponsored by NRHM U.T. Chandigarh. This workshop and related activities are being dedicated to the Golden Jubilee celebration of PGIMER, Chandigarh. Total 58 participants, comprising teachers and students, from 29 schools of Chandigarh participated on first day of the workshop.
In the beginning, Dr. Sonu Goel, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health PGIMER briefed the participants about workshop. The baseline knowledge and skills of participants regarding epilepsy and its management were assessed by means of questionnaire set; and animated and real videos. After that, participants were trained about first aid management of epilepsy with the help of interactive presentations, videos, demonstrations on dummy etc. to simulate real life situations. Dr. Amarjeet Singh, Professor, School of Public Health briefed about historical perspective of epilepsy and demystified various myths associated with epilepsy. The participants were full of doubts. They raised various queries on myths associated with epilepsy, mostly based on their own personal experiences. Videos were presented to make them aware about social aspects of epilepsy. Dr. Sonu Goel then talked about types of epilepsy; their causes and associated signs and symptoms. Participants were unaware that epilepsy could be presented in various ways rather than just involuntary movements of limbs. Again, participants clear their doubts about various symptoms which could mimic as epilepsy; and various situations which could trigger epilepsy.
Dr. Vivek Lal, Professor, Department of Neurology explained about management of epilepsy. He demonstrated the same on dummy that what to do in case person has an epileptic fit. He emphasized on dos and don’ts during epileptic fit. Then he resolved various queries of participants related to management of epilepsy. Dr. Kartik from Department of Pediatrics explained about management of unconscious child. After presentations, evaluation of the level of knowledge, attitude and practices of participants was done.
Dr. Chander Mohan, Mission Director, NRHM Chandigarh was the chief guest on the occasion. Dr. Sangeeta, Nodal Officer, NRHM Chandigarh were also present on the occasion. Booklets on epilepsy entitled “First Aid Management of Epilepsy in School Settings” in both English and Hindi languages, prepared with the help of available simple texts on epilepsy, its misconceptions and first aid treatment was released by chief guest. These were provided to participants during workshop. The Principal Investigator, Dr. Sonu Goel along with two Co-Investigators, Dr. Amarjeet Singh and Dr. Vivek Lal from PGIMER Chandigarh has developed a manual for school children on ‘Epilepsy and its Management’ in Hindi and English languages. They were also involved in training of school students in U.T Chandigarh under another earlier project undertaken in few schools in 2011. The response during training was quite encouraging so, it was decided to expand the same to include students from more of schools and to train teachers also.
Epilepsy affects nearly 50 million people worldwide. Epilepsy accounts for one percent of the global burden of disease; however, 80% of the burden of epilepsy is in the developing countries. Epilepsy is a grave social stigma in most societies. It also leads to increased risk of mortality and morbidity. In India, it has been reported that school teachers and students lack knowledge regarding the appropriate first aid action to be taken for epilepsy management. Various wrong practices and myths associated with epilepsy have also been reported among students. In India, school teachers have a pivotal role in dissemination of knowledge and development of positive attitude towards any disease among school children. There is, thus, a definite need for an intensive health education of teachers on various aspects of epilepsy to mitigate the myths and misconceptions associated with epilepsy. They can play a key role in first aid management of seizure (fit) among school children. Similarly, school students also need to be trained on first aid management of epilepsy. These students will act as peer educators for their fellows in schools once they have been trained.
These workshops had been planned with an objective of enhancing knowledge and skills about epilepsy among school teachers and students. One teacher and one student from randomly selected 100 public and private schools of U.T. Chandigarh city would be trained in first aid management of epilepsy in next three days.