Day in and day out, doctors order tests, make diagnoses, and start or stop treatments. These activities of doctors and others can be evaluated with regard to quality by using “quality measures”, which describe the actions that doctors should follow when treating patients.

Quality measures usually are created in two or three steps by the group of persons charged with developing them. The group usually consists of doctors and nurses, and may include patients as well. The group first identifies a list of important health care procedures or activities by reviewing research studies that have tested different treatments. These procedures include things that doctors and nurses know are important for high quality care based on their experience. In addition, patients are asked what they think is important about the care they receive from physicians. Then, a group of experts votes on whether each of these identified items is a valid measure of high quality care and if it can actually be measured. The group usually votes two or three times. The final list of quality measures includes actions taken by physicians that everyone agrees are good measures of high quality medical care.

A person with epilepsy may see different types of physicians at different times. Since symptoms of seizures can easily be confused with other medical and neurological problems, it's not unusual for someone with epilepsy to first see a primary care physician (pediatrician, internist or geriatrician) or perhaps an emergency room physician. In these situations, if seizures are suspected, a general neurologist is often recommended to diagnose the problem and recommend treatment.

If seizures continue despite treatment, or if someone is having bothersome side effects from their treatment, neurologists who specialize in treating epilepsy should be consulted. These doctors, called epileptologists, may recommend more testing to make sure the diagnosis is correct, find out where the seizures are coming from, look for the cause(s) of seizures, and consider other medications or non-medical treatments to control seizures.

Besides seeing doctors, persons with epilepsy may be referred to other types of health care professionals along the way, depending on how the seizures affect them. These professionals are often found at comprehensive epilepsy centers and include epilepsy nurses, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and neurosurgeons.

Seeing different doctors and health care professional can be confusing. To help you organize all the members of your health care team, download a copy of My Health Care Team.

This section on quality care for epilepsy applies to the medical care that adults with epilepsy receive from their physicians, and in particular from primary care physicians and general neurologists. At the end of each page are links to other sections on epilepsy.com that provide much more information about particular topics.

For more information:

• What Type of Doctor Should I See?
• My Health Care Team
• Find a Doctor
• Find an Epilepsy Center
• Specialists
• Knowing My Health Care Team

Topic Editor: Mary Jo V. Pugh, PhD, RN and Steven C. Schachter, MD.
Last Reviewed: 3/25/08