Title : Increasing Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) documentation in paediatric epilepsy clinics
Abstract:
Background: Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) affects 1.2/1000 children in the UK. Within the last year, at Darent Valley Hospital (DVH) there have been 3 SUDEP related deaths. Despite this, SUDEP discussions are not consistently documented in clinics. We completed a Quality Improvement Project to address this through implementing the new SUDEP checklist and later, distributed a pre-recorded webinar to educate clinicians.
Methods: A retrospective review of all patients attending the epilepsy clinic was undertaken from 19/09/2023 to 27/02/2025. Each intervention was measured through independent random sampling of clinic letters from all members of the epilepsy team.
Results: 126 clinic letters were reviewed where initially 0% letters documented SUDEP. After the first intervention, SUDEP documentation increased to 63.3%, and the second intervention this further improved to 90.9%. Chi Squared showed statistically significant results p = 1.03x10-13 (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Our QIP highlighted that SUDEP documentation was not consistently recorded however, our interventions have provided statistically significant results which have been maintained. At the moment, we intend to increase the sample size of PDSA2 to improve generalisability.
