Compassionate, collaborative epilepsy care with Dr. Bensalem-Owen
For this week’s Making the Rounds, we interviewed Meriem K. Bensalem-Owen, MD, FANA, FACNS, neurologist and director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at the UK Kentucky Neuroscience Institute.
Our Level 4 Comprehensive Epilepsy Center provides both outpatient and inpatient services through a multispecialty team of dedicated professionals focused on improving the lives of patients and families who are living with epilepsy.
Tell us about the care you provide.
The diagnosis of epilepsy can be quite devastating for the majority of individuals. Just the word epilepsy has a lot of stigma around it, and then what the implications are of having seizures, especially if they are not controlled.
I treat these people as human beings. And a lot of them come in, and they're distressed by what happened. Their family is distressed. I like to know them as individuals – as a human being.
I like to know about their family and about their interests, and I think that's when we connect.
Why is a Level 4 Comprehensive Epilepsy Center so important for epilepsy patients?
The University of Kentucky Epilepsy Program is a level 4 NAEC accredited center. What that means is that we have a multidisciplinary team. That means we have physicians, nurses, neuroradiologists, neurosurgeons and neuropsychologists all working together.
We can provide different types of testing to evaluate patients who have difficult to control seizures, and we can provide different types of epilepsy surgery.
What do you enjoy about working in academic medicine?
I love the educational part. I love to teach trainees. And I also love to work in collaboration with other colleagues.
Our model of epilepsy care is that we are a multidisciplinary group. And so it's a team-based group. And I think every member of the team will bring something to the patient care and hopefully deliver wonderful care and hopefully get the best outcome we can get for our patients.
Watch our full interview with Dr. Bensalem-Owen.
