title: A population audit of first clinic attendance with suspected epilepsy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the quality of clinical care at first clinic attendance in children with suspected epilepsy from a defined geographical population.
  
  
  METHODS
  All hospital- and community-based consultant paediatricians in Nottingham City region, UK, were asked to collaborate with a retrospective clinical audit identifying children seen between January 2001 and March 2002. The British Paediatric Neurology Association (BPNA) audit tool (Appleton R, Besag F, Kennedy C, et al. An audit of children referred with suspected epilepsy. Seizure 1998;7(6):489-95) was used to analyse the initial outpatient assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All consultants agreed to participate. A total of 147 children were identified as meeting the inclusion criteria. The sequence of events during the episodes was well recorded (91%). Other aspects of the history were less well recorded. Twelve percent were given a diagnosis of epilepsy, 26% non-epileptic and 62% uncertain. Documentation of early development and school performance was low (41%). Twenty-four percent of the children had no written documentation confirming physical and neurological examination. Documentation describing referral to an epilepsy nurse or support group was seen in 11%. Drug treatment and doses and follow-up plans were recorded in nearly all cases where applicable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A managed clinical network for children with epilepsy in Nottingham and the surrounding Trent region is currently being discussed which will consider alternative models of care for children with epilepsy. A revision of the BPNA audit tool has been produced with the BPNA Audit group and is available for other centres via the BPNA website's 'clinical toolbox' (http://www.bpna.org.uk/audit).
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Neurology, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK. c.dunkley@virgin.net
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dunkley
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: William P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Whitehouse
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000592:standards; D044382:Population Groups; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012189:Retrospective Studies