Audit cycle 1

National Audit Conference 2012

The first joint national audit meeting between BSCN and ANS was held on 11th October 2012 at Friends House in London, with 100 delegates attending. 

The 
programme included an introduction giving the rationale behind the National Audit projects followed by an overview of the departmental accreditation process (IQIPS). Each of the 3 audit projects was presented and included a literature review of the topic. All presentations can be viewed on the accompanying PowerPoint slides (see links below). 

The results of the hyperventilation and video telemetry projects were used to draw up provisional National Standards and Guidelines. On the basis of the ensuing group discussion these Standards and Guidelines will be subject to revision and then circulated to professional body members before publication on the BSCN and ANS websites. 

The audit of the BSCN/ANS Standards for nerve conduction studies in CTS resulted in the recommendation to return to the original version of the standards ie changing Standard 5 to a Guideline. Feedback on adherence to the CTS standards for individual centres can be given confidentially on request from Jeff Holman (
Jeffery.holman@porthosp.nhs.uk). 

The day concluded with a discussion session to obtain ideas for further projects. Suggestions for further work included: 

- Photic stimulation: review of protocols, safety and efficacy (Athi Ponnusamy) 
- The use of melatonin for sleep induction (Caroline Ross) 
- Infection Control standards (Richard van der Star) 
- Information Governance (Adrian Fowle) 
- Archiving EEGs (Benny Thomas) 
- BSCN/ANS Ulnar nerve standards (Ros Kandler) 
- Standards for diagnosing AIDP (PP Chaudhary) 
- Glut 1 deficiency and epilepsy (Ming Lai) 
- Measurements in CTS NCS protocols (Martin Koltzenburg) 
- Grey cases with interactive participation (Ros Kandler) 
- NCS/EMG protocol in patients with ICDs (Nicola Broomfield – received by email) 
- Minimum length of EEG recording (Chris Fisher – received by email) 

The view of the participants was that a similar conference should be run every 2 years separate to the regular BSCN and ANS scientific meetings. 

Powerpoint presentations:

Introduction
IQIPS
Hyperventilation
Videotelemetry
Carpal tunnel syndrome

References:

The safety of UK video telemetry units: results of a national service evaluation 
Kandler R, Lai M, Ponnusamy A, Bland J, Pang C 
Seizure 2013:22;872-876 

Safety of video-telemetry units: a national survey 
Charlton G, Lai M, Kandler R, Ponnusamy A, Bland J, Pang C 
Journal of the Association of Neurophysiological Scientists 2013:6;64-69 

Hyperventilation during electroencephalography: Safety and efficacy
Kane N, Grocott L, Kandler R, Lawrence S, Pang C
Seizure 2014:23;129 – 134. 

The safety and efficacy of hyperventilation during routine EEG: a national survey 
Lawrence S, Kandler R, Kane N, Grocutt L, Pang C 
Journal of the Association of Neurophysiological Scientists 2013:6;59-63