# Prehospital management of status epilepticus

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2021 · $200,178

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Status epilepticus affects approximately 160,000 people in the U.S. each year and carries substantial
associated morbidity and mortality. Use of prehospital benzodiazepines by EMS providers varies widely,
resulting in failures to provide evidence-based care to a large proportion of patients. Despite the striking
underuse of prehospital benzodiazepines for status epilepticus, the causes and the clinical consequence have
not been fully delineated. Prehospital providers may hesitate to administer benzodiazepines because the
respiratory risks of undertreated seizures may be perceived as less morbid than the respiratory depression
caused by medication-related oversedation. Alternatively, prehospital care may be driven by variable
emergency medical services treatment protocols that frequently define status epilepticus incorrectly and
instruct providers to give benzodiazepine doses lower than established guidelines. Accordingly, the overall
objective of this proposal is to discover the key factors that dictate prehospital status epilepticus management
and quantify the extent to which our current shortcomings are associated with worse outcomes. The advent of
more detailed EMS electronic medical records and linkage of these records to hospital data provide a new
opportunity to examine these questions with increased rigor. The results will be critical in addressing the
clinical concerns of front-line providers and improving outcomes among patients with status epilepticus through
the following specific aims:
Aim 1. Assess the association between undertreated status epilepticus and clinical outcomes.
Aim 2. Determine the association between prehospital benzodiazepine dose and EMS agency protocol
instructions for status epilepticus.
Aim 3. Identify barriers and facilitators to evidence-based benzodiazepine administration for patients with out-
of-hospital status epilepticus using qualitative methods.
Through the proposed research, relevant coursework, and a mentoring team with wide-ranging expertise, Dr.
Guterman will build necessary skills in study design and advanced biostatistical methods (Dr. Daniel
Lowenstein, the primary mentor, and Dr. John Neuhaus), implementation science (Dr. S. Andrew Josephson
and Dr. Sara Ackerman), and qualitative and mixed methods research (Dr. Sara Ackerman). The findings from
this project will address an understudied aspect of status epilepticus care and provide insight needed to
improve its prehospital treatment. The results will build the evidence base for a future R01 proposal to
prospectively evaluate prehospital treatment and outcomes in patients presenting with status epilepticus. This
project will also bring Dr. Guterman closer to her long-term goal of becoming a leading clinician-investigator
dedicated to advancing the treatment of status epilepticus and ensuring that real-world care for these patients
matches the best available evidence.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10127715
- **Project number:** 5K23NS116128-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Elan Guterman
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $200,178
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10127715

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10127715, Prehospital management of status epilepticus (5K23NS116128-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10127715. Licensed CC0.

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