The Yield of Medical Clowns in performing EEG for Young Children

EEG is an important test in the diagnosis epilepsy. The test does not hart, however many electrodes are attached to the child`s scalp and situation is stressful. The aim our study was to investigate the advantage performance of EEG in young children in cooperation with medical clowns.

Patients and Methods: A prospective randomized control study. Children age 1-5 years who were undergoing EEG test at the Bnai Zion Medical Center were included in the study. The children were divided to each group randomly, according to the day of the test.

Results: One hundred children participated in the study. Fifty children underwent the EEG with the accompanying of two medical clown (study group), and fifty children did it the classical way, without medical clowns (control group). The physician technical score to the EEG recording was significantly higher in the study group (p<.001). The parents` satisfaction from the present of the medical clowns during the EEG in the study group was very high (4.68±0.68) and was even little higher than the impression of the medical clowns themselves (4.58±0.67). Both, the technician and the parents, rated the child’s cooperation in the study group significantly higher compared to control group. The rating of child/parent’s cooperation was not correlated with age, sex or ethnicity of the child. There was no need for sedation in the study group.

Conclusions: Performing EEG in young children with medical clowns can increase the quality of the EEG recording and the satisfaction of both parents and technicians.