Haneef Zulfi, Sullivan-Baca Erin, Rehman Rizwana, Towne Alan, Van Cott Ann C, Husain Aatif
Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, Texas.
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
Fed Pract. 2024 Nov;41(11):370-375. doi: 10.12788/fp.0488. Epub 2024 Nov 15.
The Epilepsy Centers of Excellence (ECoE) is a network of facilities within the Veterans Health Administration that evaluates and treats veterans with epilepsy and seizure disorders. This article outlines how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted ECoE services and recovery.
Directors of 17 ECoEs were surveyed 4 times between May 2020 and July 2022 on 5 domains: functioning of outpatient epilepsy clinics, outpatient electroencephalogram, epilepsy monitoring unit, anticipated permanent operational changes, and utility of national and local recommendations. Data on the spread of COVID-19 and administrative workload data were compared with the availability of epilepsy services.
There was an increase in in-person outpatient visits from May 2020 (1 of 13 sites) to June 2022 (all 16 sites). Similar increases were also observed for outpatient electroencephalogram from 4 of 13 sites and subsequently all 16 sites, and for epilepsy monitoring unit from 1 of 12 sites to 11 of 16 sites. The spread of COVID-19 did not correlate with the availability of services. Respondents predicted telehealth would be a permanent change.
Comprehensive ECoEs within the Veterans Health Administration increased services during the COVID-19 pandemic without demonstrating an association to the disease's spread.
卓越癫痫中心（ECoE）是退伍军人健康管理局内的一个设施网络，负责评估和治疗患有癫痫和发作性疾病的退伍军人。本文概述了新冠疫情如何影响卓越癫痫中心的服务及恢复情况。
在2020年5月至2022年7月期间，对17个卓越癫痫中心的主任进行了4次调查，涉及5个领域：门诊癫痫诊所的运作、门诊脑电图、癫痫监测单元、预期的永久性运营变化以及国家和地方建议的实用性。将新冠疫情的传播数据和行政工作量数据与癫痫服务的可及性进行了比较。
从2020年5月（13个站点中的1个）到2022年6月（所有16个站点），面对面门诊就诊量有所增加。门诊脑电图也有类似的增加，从13个站点中的4个增加到随后的所有16个站点，癫痫监测单元从12个站点中的1个增加到16个站点中的11个。新冠疫情的传播与服务的可及性无关。受访者预计远程医疗将成为永久性变化。
退伍军人健康管理局内的综合性卓越癫痫中心在新冠疫情期间增加了服务，且未显示出与疾病传播之间的关联。
