It is well documented that quality of life for people with
epilepsy is not solely related to seizure control, but impacted by a multitude
of factors such as medication side-effects, depression, lifestyle restrictions
and social support. Addressing these issues is important to comprehensive
epilepsy care but patents are often hesitant to bring up these topics with
their clinicians. The computer program, MINDSET (Management Information and
Decision Support Epilepsy Tool) strives to facilitate communication between clinicians
and patients by obtaining and managing relevant information. MINDSET is
provided on a table computer to epilepsy patients as they come into clinic. The
program then prompts patients to answer a series of questions relating to not
only seizure frequency and severity, but also lifestyle factors such as
medication management, social support and depression. MINDSET uses these
responses to identify important issues and provides an individualized printout
for the patient to provide to their clinician. This printout can then allow the
patient and clinician to better collaborate in creating strategies to overcome
these complex problems.
Read more about the study demonstrating the feasibility of
MINDSET here:
http://www.epilepsybehavior.com/article/S1525-5050(14)00701-X/abstract
