Seizures are one of the most common reasons people call an ambulance, or Emergency Medical Services (EMS), for a child. Seizures that do not stop on their own can be life-threatening. Paramedics have medications to treat seizures before the child gets to the hospital. Delays can occur when they have to calculate how much medication to give and/or how to give it.
- The PediDOSE study is a study designed to evaluate if a standardized method for paramedics to administer seizure medication leads to timely delivery of the right dose
- The purpose of this study is to simplify how paramedics give medication to seizing children to stop the seizure
- By replacing complicated dose calculations with age-based standardized dosing, we aim to increase the number of children who receive the right amount of seizure-stopping treatment during EMS care.
Midazolam is the medication that will be used in this study. This medication is commonly used for treating seizures. Like all medications, midazolam has risks. In this study, we will determine if the risks increase or decrease when using the age-based standardized dosing. We will look specifically at how breathing is affected since this is a known risk. A potential benefit of this study is that more children may receive the right treatment to stop their seizures early.
Participating EMS agencies will be randomly assigned a timeline for adopting the standardized treatment plan over the course of the four-year study. This will allow researchers to compare the new treatment plan to current methods. Treatment methods for seizures are prescribed by a doctor who oversees all medical care for the entire agency, and changes to the medical treatment method will be adopted by all paramedics who are working for the EMS agency. Therefore, no alternative treatments for seizure will be available and there is no way to opt-out of the study. However, parents of children enrolled in this study will be able to request that no further data be collected for research.
