The view from here: treating epilepsy in Maine is in the news

I’ll start this blog entry with a personal touch, revealing a little bit about where I live and then I will discuss an interesting debate going on in my home state.

I am very fortunate to live on a salt water river in Maine, and these photos were taken from my front yard at sunrise and sunset.  I live for my time on the water and had lots of wonderful boat rides this summer.   Soon to come to an end as the boat will be coming out of the water this week!
The river at dawn...

 And at sunset

  Since I work from a home office that overlooks this river, I have extra perks along with my wonderful job working for ASET!  How can you get stressed out with seals swimming by and eagles soaring overhead!  I am very thankful that I have this job and have enjoyed serving as Director of Education for ASET for eleven years now!  One of the things I like best is the vast variety of calls I receive every day.  Many calls are from the general public, seeking information about how to pursue a career in Neurodiagnostics.  Some of the most interesting calls come from technologists from all over the country each with a unique situation, seeking information or assistance.  Some examples:  where to find a policy and procedure document for carotid endarterectomies, justification for a salary increase, establishing a patient to technologist ratio for an epilepsy monitoring unit, and docs calling desperately seeking to hire qualified technologists!

Epilepsy has been in the news here lately.  Some children with epilepsy have a prescription for Diastat,  to be given emergently during a severe seizure.  Parents typically send a dose to school to be kept on hand, but the current state law allows only the school nurse to administer the medication and it must be kept locked up in the nurse’s office.  Practically, this can lead to significant delays in accessing and administering the drug quickly.  A group of parents are actively seeking to change the law to allow teachers to be trained and authorized to give the drug as well and keep in in the classroom.

Maine has also been in the news regarding the approval to distribute medical marijuana to patients while in the hospital.  Because it breaks federal law, hospitals cannot consider allowing medical marijuana to be given to in-patients without the risk of losing federal funds.  So parents are put in a difficult situation if they have determined that this treatment has been effective for a child who has epilepsy when the child is admitted for treatment.  News stories feature parents who admit to secretly bringing the drug in and giving to their child, and therefore committing a criminal act.  The two largest medical centers in Maine do dispense a synthetic marijuana, called marinol, to patients but there is a debate about its efficacy.  A bill allowing hospitals in the state to distribute medical marijuana did pass in the state legislature but was vetoed by the governor. 

I will be following the debate about these two controversial treatments for epilepsy.  At the ASET annual conference in Weston, FL this summer, Dr. Jason Sebesto, from the local Mayo Clinic, gave a great presentation:  “Cannabinoids and the Treatment of Epilepsy”.  Since technologists often discuss medications and treatments with their patients as they take a history, it is helpful to have an understanding of alternative treatments and the legal issues that patients encounter.

Neurodiagnostic Technologists: There just aren't enough of us! Read about how to help us recruit new students to the field!

The following is a guest blog from the Co-chair of the ASET Ambassador Program Task Force

Calling All ASET Ambassadors!

Meredith Milton, R. EEG/EP T., RPSGT

NEURODIAGNOSTIC TECHNOLOGIST

 

Improving the health of the people we serve

The ASET Marketing Committee has recently created the ASET Ambassador Program in order to actively attract and recruit new students to the field of Neurodiagnostics. This program is geared toward technologists who would like to volunteer to go out in their local communities and speak to students about their careers. This program was presented at the ASET Annual Conference and so far we have received a wonderful response. We want to make sure everyone gets a chance to hear about the program and has an opportunity to get involved.

If this is something that interests you, we’d love to have you join us in accomplishing our goal! The first thing you need to do is pick a target location – typically you want to choose a school in your area that would be receptive to you delivering a PowerPoint Presentation (which has already been prepared). The PowerPoint covers an abundance of information about Neurodiagnostics. This presentation can be geared towards students from elementary school all the way through college, and more recently we’ve added a new task force specifically assigned to recruiting Veterans that are looking to re-enter the workforce.  

Once you have signed up by filling out the short questionnaire on the ASET Website (see link below), you will receive all the information you need in order to present. You are provided with the following tools:

1.      Letter to the Facility: This is a professionally written letter explaining the goal of the Ambassador Program that you may give to the facility in which you would like to present.

2.      PowerPoint Presentation: There are two versions that are adjusted based on the age of your audience. The PowerPoint will guide you throughout your entire presentation.

3.      Presentation Script: The script is to be used with the PowerPoint. Utilizing it will help streamline your presentation.

4.      FAQ Videos: You can watch these beforehand to familiarize yourself with questions the audience members might ask you.

5.      Lastly, we provide you with promo materials to pass out after your presentation. We have Neurodiagnostic Pens and Pamphlets for the listeners to take home. Upon completion of your presentation, we also provide surveys for the audience members to fill out regarding the presentation. Our goal is to give these students all the information they need to develop a basic understanding of and interest in our field. The surveys even have an option for the students to request more information about Neurodiagnostics through the ASET Marketing Committee.

Once you have presented, you are required to return the students’ surveys and fill in a short survey yourself regarding your own experience with the program. And then, WE take it from there! After your first presentation you can be involved as little or as much as you like. As long as you successfully complete one presentation, you are officially an ASET Ambassador. You will receive 1 CEU (first time only), recognition in The Neurodiagnostic Journal, and an Ambassador Ribbon for your name badge at the Annual Conference.

Best of all, though, you will know you have presented a fulfilling career opportunity to students or veterans and contributed to the bright future of the Neurodiagnostic Profession. Help us accomplish our goals of: reaching future technologists, increasing Neurodiagnostic school enrollment, and creating a new generation of Neurodiagnostic professionals. We can’t wait for you to join us and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

To learn more about the ASET Ambassador Program, visit our website at: www.aset.org. The Ambassador Program information is listed under the Resources tab:  ASET Ambassador Program

If you are interested in becoming an ambassador for the profession, or know someone who is, please contact Sarah Dolezilek, ASET's Marketing and Communications Manager, at 816.931.1120 [106] or sarah@aset.org.

Guest Blog Entry: What I learned at ASET 2015

I am honored to post this blog entry, authored by Richard Vogel, Ph.D., DABNM who gave a presentation for the ASET 2015 Annual Conference Advanced IONM Course on August 1st.

Many thanks to Dr. Vogel for sharing his blog, and if you would like to read more from Dr. Vogel, please visit  http://neurologiclabs.com/.

August 2, 2015 at 18:19  •  Posted in Professionalism by Richard Vogel  • 

The Neurodiagnostic Society (ASET) is the largest national professional association for individuals involved in the study and recording of electrical activity in the brain and nervous system. The ASET 2015 annual meeting was held in Weston, Florida this past weekend, and I was privileged to be an invited speaker. In addition to me, IONM faculty included:

    Mark Stecker, MD, PhD

    Jeff Balzer, PhD, DABNM, FASNM

    Bryan Wilent, PhD, DABNM

    Mark Helderman, R.EEG/EP T., CNIM

    Rebecca Clark-Bash, R. EEG/EP T., CNIM, CLTM, FASNM

    Bernie Cohen, PhD, FACNS, FASNM

    Brett Netherton, MS, CNIM, FASN

    Stuart Hoffman, DO

    Ashley Kotrady, BS, CNIM

    Adam Doan, DC, DABNM

The first thing that I learned at the meeting is that the ASET annual meeting is a really, really good meeting. I think it is a must-attend event for anyone working in neurodiagnostics. I’ve been in the field for quite a few years now, and I just joined ASET last year…and I’ve never attended one of their meetings before. I have to say that it was one of the best meetings that I’ve ever attended. The people were so nice. The talks were fantastic! The scope of the talks ranged from beginner to advanced, so that everyone can benefit from the content. Obviously, I focused my attendance on the topic of neuromonitoring (IONM).
The second thing that I learned at the meeting (in talking to lots of people) is that there are quite a few technologists working in neurodiagnostics who are actually against technologist licensure because they think it will abolish the certifications that they’ve worked so hard to achieve. This is absolutely false, and I would encourage active members of the society to get the word out to clear up any confusion. I am a strong advocate for technologist licensure, and I support their ongoing endeavors to achieve licensure.
The third thing that I learned in listening to Dr. Cohen’s talk (which was a joint presentation with Brett Netherton), is that there are a lot of people out there working as technologists who are uncomfortable being called a “neurophysiologist”. Also, there are quite a few neurophysiologists out there who are uncomfortable being called a “technologist”. There are lots of different opinions about what job title one should have. I’m sure there will be more discussions on this topic.

The final thing that I learned at the meeting is that many people in neurodiagnostics feel that their employers don’t provide enough support for continuing education. I’m not just talking about financial support to attend conferences, but also time off to attend conferences and money to purchase books, etc. Some employers don’t see any benefit in continuing education. On more than one occasion I heard someone say that their company only cares about the bottom line ($). Some people had to foot the entire bill of traveling to the conference themselves! I think that’s really unfortunate. I met so many people who were just ecstatic about their opportunity to be at the conference and learn new information. The excitement for learning was palpable and contagious! That’s so refreshing!
I decided not to write about the content of the ASET talks/courses because I thought readers would be interested to hear some of the “other” topics that came up in conversation.
I’ve written previously about reasons to join a professional society. If you are not a member of a professional society, I strongly encourage you to join one.

Preventing Skin Breakdown and Electrode-related injuries: the topic of the ASET 2015 Symposium at our annual conference

                                             Can we prevent this??

Over the years I have received countless phone calls and e-mails from technologists, lab managers, nurses and physicians who have observed skin breakdown at electrode sites.  One can’t deny that this has become a hot topic nationwide!  Several hospitals have initiated their own research into the nature of these injuries.  We all have a common goal to reduce the chance of skin breakdown.  One of our major challenges is to determine what factors contribute to skin breakdown.  Since every lab and every technologist utilize unique methods and combinations of products for skin prep, adhesive and conductive gels, it is very difficult to come up with a precise answer to this question.

For the first time ever, we are going to film and live stream an ASET event so that technologists at home can hear the symposium and participate in the discussion via a chat room!  Please use this link to read more on how to participate: 

https://livestream.com/GlobalMedia/ASET2015 

I am confident that the four panelists who will be presenting at this symposium will provide some insights and that the audience will also participate in discussion to help us determine "best practices" to prevent skin breakdown.  Our first panelist is a wound care nurse from Children’s Hospital of Colorado, Carol Price.   She has been a part of a team providing assessment and treatment of patients with this problem.  One of the problems we have as technologists is that we are not well informed about how the skin is structured,  how it is compromised and what conditions increase the risk for skin breakdown.  Carol’s presentation will help us understand the skin and injuries to the skin.  She will explain the assessment scale that helps categorize the severity of injuries. 

Other panelists include members of the ASET skin integrity task force who will explain what we have discovered so far, and how you can help!  One of the task force members works with pediatric and neonatal patients and she will provide an overview of what is unique about this patient population in reference to electrode related injuries.  We also will hear from Brett Netherton,  our expert on electrode injuries that occur in the O.R. during monitoring. 

If you are coming to this year’s ASET annual conference please don’t miss this event!  And if you can’t be there, please sign up to participate!  It is free!  We cannot offer ASET CEUs for this event, in part because we have never tried to do a live streaming session before and we want to make sure it all works  well.  Because it requires a significant amount of administrative time to document participation for the purpose of tracking CEUs, if we are able to offer another live streaming event in the future, we would include a nominal charge for the event to cover the cost of awarding CEUs.  We plan to make the recorded event available at some point after the conference, so please watch our website for more details.

But for now, please consider participating if you are concerned about skin breakdown.  Our current website survey is about this topic and 70% of respondents report a concern about this!