Neurológia pre prax 1/2017

Pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period in connection with epilepsy from the perspective of midwives

Epilepsy is a chronic brain disorder characterized by spontaneous or reflex, uncontrolled epileptic seizures (Kršek, 2006). Approximately between three and four hundred children in the Czech Republic are born to women diagnosed with epilepsy before pregnancy (Zárubová, 2010). For this reason, nursing care provided by midwives to epileptic women plays a significant role during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. Such care has its own characteristics with which midwives should be conversant. Therefore, one of the aims of the conducted qualitative research was to survey their knowledge in this area. The results have showed that addressed midwives are well-informed about epilepsy in terms of pregnancy, childbirth and nursing care of the newborn in the postpartum period. Another aim was to explore the effect of epilepsy on pregnancy, childbirth and nursing care for the newborn in the postpartum period from the perspective of epileptic mothers. The results of this survey are not the subject of this report.

Keywords: epilepsy, pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum period, nursing care