Quality measures describe the actions that doctors should follow when treating patients. They are used by comparing what should be done by a doctor under certain circumstances against what the doctor actually does in those situations. An example of a quality measure in epilepsy is “If the diagnosis or seizure type remains unclear after the initial evaluations, or the patient has recurrent seizures, then the patient should be referred to the next level of epilepsy care.”

Quality care can be measured by reviewing a patient’s medical chart or by asking a patient to complete a survey that asks about the care he or she received from the doctor. Many times, quality-of-care researchers use both medical chart review and patient surveys to get the best idea of the type of care patients receive and how it stacks up according to the quality measures.

How can Quality Measures help improve medical care?

Because epilepsy isn’t as common as heart disease or high blood pressure, primary care physicians may not take care of many epilepsy patients. Consequently, they may not often have the opportunity to think about how to maximize the quality of life for their patients with epilepsy. For these doctors, quality indicators for epilepsy provide a standard to follow.

Quality measures are also helpful to persons with epilepsy, because then they understand the most important things that doctors should do for them under certain situations. What’s more, by having this information, persons with epilepsy can ask their doctors the right questions at the right times and make sure that they receive the care they need. This is very important, because sometimes patients mistakenly assume that the doctor "should know" their needs, concerns, and symptoms without the patient needing to directly tell the doctor.

Later in this section, we will talk about quality measures for the following situations that people with epilepsy may face at some point:

• When First Diagnosed
• After the Diagnosis
• If Seizures Don’t Stop
• If Medications Cause Side Effects
• Questions for the Doctor
• Just for Women

For more information:

• Staying in Touch with Your Health Care Team
• Patient-Doctor Relationship: Getting the Most Out of It

Topic Editor: Mary Jo V. Pugh, PhD, RN and Steven C. Schachter, MD.
Last Reviewed: 3/25/08