Pediatrics & Therapeutics
Open Access

Management of Paediatric Febrile Seizures

Aaron Martin^{* *}Correspondence: Aaron Martin, Department of Pediatrics, University of Limerick, Ireland, Ireland, Email:

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Febrile seizures are the convulsions that occur in children even who don’t have any history of neurological symptoms. Febrile seizures occur in the children aged 6 months to 6 years. When a child gets febrile seizures they lose consciousness. Commonly the most cause of febrile seizure is of fever and it occurs when the temperature rises to 38˚C. Febrile seizure symptoms are loss of consciousness, difficulty in breathing, eyes rolling to the back, foaming occurs at mouth, shaking of the arms and legs. Management of febrile seizures is done by long term management like hospitalisation and patient education. Long term management includes continuous prophylaxis and intermittent prophylaxis for the recurrence of attacks. But continuous prophylaxis leads to higher risk for the later epilepsy. In management of febrile seizures the first and foremost to do is to reduce the children body temperature which is the utmost cause of the seizure and then to seek a physician. To manage febrile seizures the foremost is to know the exact cause of the seizure by doing certain tests like electroencephalogram and a lumbar puncture to determine if there is any alteration or changes in the brain or nervous system. After the seizure the children may take fifteen to twenty minutes to come into the normal state. The most important thing was reassurance of the parents regarding the febrile seizures. Patient education for febrile seizures includes the counselling for the patient parents or their guardian about the severity of the disease and also what to do when a seizure occurs at home which is a mild and moderate or less severity of the disease. Appropriate education should be provide to the patient parents and also about the side effects of the long term and intermittent treatment of certain drugs like hepatotoxicity, weight loss, weight gain and gastrointestinal disturbances. In the management of febrile seizure nurse also pays a role in maintaining the oxygenation and to minimize the risk of complications. The nurse should take care of the patient by monitoring the oxygen or saturation levels and the other vital for the effective recovery of the patient. It is also mandatory that nurse should even check and be alert if any traumatic effects occur in the patient. Mostly febrile seizures are of less severe and can be managed at home with the doctor’s suggestion. The exact cause of the seizure has not yet known. If more than one episode of seizure occurs for a longer period of time immediate care must be taken. The patient parents should also be educated regarding the detection of infection, temperature control to avoid the reoccurrence of febrile convulsion. Parents should be advised about the patient dressing and frequent oral fluids and the exact use of the anti convulsant medication at the right time. A parent reassurance is the most important aspect of the management in these convulsions. Febrile seizures management is done mainly by parental counselling. Febrile convulsions are common in childhood and later on decreases by the preventive measures.

Acknowledgement

The author is very thankful to all the associated personnel in any reference that contributed in/for the purpose of this research.

Conflict of Interest

The author has declared that no competing interests exist.