Would you know what to do?

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—One in 10 adults will have a seizure at some point in their lives. If you're in a room with someone when this happens, don't fall back on Grey's Anatomy to figure out what to do. According to new research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto this April, actors playing nurses and doctors on popular medical dramas respond inappropriately to seizures (the result of the brain's electrical system malfunctioning) almost half of the time.

THE DETAILS: Researchers screened all episodes of the highest-rated medical dramas, including Grey's Anatomy, House M.D., and Private Practice, and the last five seasons of ER. In the nearly 330 episodes, 59 seizures occurred, most of them at the hospital, with actors posing as nurses or doctors administering seizure first aid. Major seizure first aid no-nos—including holding the seizing person down, trying to stop movement, or putting something in the person's mouth—occurred 46 percent of the time. In contrast, proper first aid for seizures was shown just 29 percent of the time. Researchers could not determine the appropriateness of first aid in 25 percent of the cases. "Seizures usually end in two to three minutes," says Brien Smith, MD, member of the Epilepsy Foundation's Professional Advisory Board and Board of Directors. "Everybody watches TV and everybody watches popular shows, so they may get a misconception of not only the illness, but also the proper intervention and treatment."

Read on to find out what you should do if someone is having a seizure.