Ardens has created a variety of resources to assist with identifying patients who may have epilepsy, and to support the patients ongoing management once diagnosed.
Recording Information on the Management of Epilepsy Patients
The Ardens Epilepsy clinical template has been designed to standardise consultations, ensuring clinicians are following the latest national guidelines and recording accurate coding of data.
To locate the template, access the relevant patient record. Open a new consultation and select the Run Template option (if not in consultations, click on the Add button on the EMIS ribbon, followed by Data Using Template option).
This will open the Template Picker screen. If you have accessed any templates before, these will display to the left of the screen. Search for the template by typing “Epilepsy” in the search box.
This will return the Epilepsy (Ardens) template (alternatively select the Ardens > Chronic disease templates folder to the right of the screen).
Double click on the template to launch.
All the Ardens Chronic Disease Templates follow the latest NICE guidance and best practice information. They include a QOF page for capturing QOF requirements and Review pages to complete a structured review.
Any information displayed in red relates to payment purposes such as QOF, Network Contract DES or local payment. Please note - if the information is relevant for the current financial year, you do not need to duplicate this information.
The Initial Diagnosis page can be used for patients without a confirmed diagnosis of epilepsy and are presenting with possible fits or suspected epilepsy. This page enables you to record relevant history, investigations, referral and safety netting information. Please note the appropriate diagnosis codes for epilepsy can be found within the QOF page.
For clinicians requiring to complete an annual review for patients with an established epilepsy diagnosis, the Review page is available.
The Recall page enables you to add a follow up date to the patients diary for epilepsy monitoring in the future. This follow up diary entry will link with the Ardens Diary Recall System.
The template contains many helpful links and information including links to NICE guidance within the Management Guidance page and leaflets for your patients within the Resources page.
Please note – for patients presenting with multiple long term conditions, you may wish to use the Ardens Multi-Morbidity Templates.
Ardens Clinical Safety Alerts
The Ardens Clinical Safety Alerts will flag in real-time any important MHRA drug safety and NICE guidance information which maybe missed. The alerts are triggered automatically by certain activity entered in the patient record e.g. entering a particular code or prescribing specific drugs. Further information on the Clinical Safety Alerts included, can be found here.
The alert below is triggered when prescribing Sodium Valproate to a patient of childbearing age who does not have a Pregnancy Prevention Programme in place.
Clicking on OK to this message will run the Ardens Sodium Valproate template, to allow clinicians to record further information.
Ardens Epilepsy Searches
Ardens have provided various searches which may be useful to support practices with the care of your epilepsy patients:
- Additional LTC Recall Searches - the detailed review folder includes searches identifying patients requiring an annual review for Epilepsy.
- Valproate Pregnancy Searches – identifies female patients of childbearing age prescribed Sodium Valproate.
- Prescribing Monitoring Searches - searches to assist practices with drug monitoring to ensure the correct tests are completed.
- Ardens Case Finders - contains a suite of searches to support practices to improve data quality and ensure QOF payments are correctly calculated.
If you require any further assistance on the process above, please contact Ardens support on: support-emis@ardens.org.uk