Shattering assumptions: ‘Pseudoseizures’

Learn more about psychogenic seizures and how to be a more empathetic provider

May 10, 2021 09:14 PM •

We have all been guilty of labeling and judging “pseudoseizures.” First of all, this term is outdated, and this episode looks at a study examining the mortality in psychogenic seizure patients.

In this episode of the MCHD Paramedic Podcast, Montgomery County Hospital District Medical Director Dr. Casey Patrick is joined by Kevin Crocker, LP, FACPE. Crocker is the MCHD division chief of quality and process improvement. He has over 20 years of prehospital experience and has been a paramedic for 18 years. His primary interest is in clinical quality improvement and he is active in contributing to the advancement of EMS field through prehospital research.

Crocker and Dr. Patrick discuss this debilitating disease that needs more attention and improved treatment options. Listen to have your prior assumptions shattered, and leave a better and more empathetic provider.

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MCHD Paramedic Podcast

The MCHD Paramedic Podcast was launched in early 2018 in an effort to provide easily consumable core-content EMS education and insights from prehospital care thought leaders. The Clinical Services Department of The Montgomery County Hospital District EMS service developed the podcast as a tool to better engage and disseminate continuing education to our MCHD medics as well as first responders and EMS professionals nationwide.

Dr. Casey Patrick is the assistant medical director for Montgomery County Hospital District EMS and is a practicing emergency physician in multiple community emergency departments across Greater Houston. His EMS educational focus is on innovative paramedic teaching via the MCHD Paramedic Podcast. Dr. Patrick’s prehospital clinical research involves the investigation of paramedic use of bolus dose intravenous nitroglycerin for acute pulmonary edema and the implementation of lung protective ventilation strategies for intubated EMS patients. Casey and his wife, Alyssa, work and live in Conroe, Texas, and Spokane, Washington. Together they have five children: Mia, Ainsley, Brock, Dean and Will.

Dr. Dickson graduated with honors from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio in 2001 and completed emergency medicine training at Indiana University in 2004. He serves as the EMS medical director at Montgomery County Hospital District EMS and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. His academic interests include systems of care in stroke and other time-sensitive emergencies, neurologic emergencies and education. He is board certified in emergency medicine in both the U.S. and Australasia, and has subspecialty board certification in EMS medicine. He has authored multiple professional articles and presented at regional, national and international conferences on emergency medicine and EMS topics.