Vasovagal Syncope in Epilepsy Monitoring Unit: A Case Report and Review

ABSTRACT

Falls are a common adverse event (AE) in general hospital admissions and in the epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) and can cause serious physical injury for patients; however, fall prevention policies widely vary between epilepsy centers. Patient safety, including minimizing AEs, such as falls, continue to be a major goal of quality improvement in the EMU. The bathroom area in an EMU is highly prone for falls due to the need for patient privacy. Syncope is a physiologic non-epileptic event with high prevalence in general population and is a potential cause for fall. It is also reported in people diagnosed with epilepsy. We report a case of vasovagal syncope (VVS) associated with injury in a young female during long-term video EEG recording in our EMU facility. We also briefly address concerns for identifying patients at risk for syncope and its prevention. A multidisciplinary team including EEG technologists can play a vital role in educating patients and caretakers about the risk factors of syncopal fall and its preventive measures.

KEY WORDS:

• Adverse events
• epilepsy monitoring unit
• falls
• patient safety
• syncope

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Mrs. Anna Bonner, the journal editor for the language edits and corrections.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.