Kathryn Swider1, Daniel Harrison2, Christopher Doughty3, Calli Cook4, Justin Dilibero5, Kathryn Hall6, Andrew Busler7, Galina Gheihman2, Lucy Morse6, Margaret Naclerio7, Elizabeth Woods8, Matthew Walsh2
1Lahey, 2MGH, 3Brigham and Women'S Hospital, 4Emory Healthcare, 5RIC, 6MGB, 7Brigham and Womens Hospital, 8Massachusetts General Hospital
Objective:
We aim to describe neurologic education in nurse practitioner (NP) programs to better inform efforts to develop tailored educational initiatives.
Background:
A growing number of NPs are entering neurologic practice. Postgraduate educational needs of NPs are partly dictated by prior neurologic educational experience, which is not well-defined.
Design/Methods:
The 2018 American Academy of Neurology clerkship director survey was adapted for leaders of NP programs via an iterative approach and distributed in Spring and Fall 2023.
Results:
331 Family, 140 Adult-Gerontological Primary Care, and 136 Adult-Gerontological Acute Care NP registered programs were identified. Leaders of 206 programs completed the survey (33.9%). Two hundred and one respondents (97.6%) reported neuroscience didactics included within their curriculum, typically contained within core, discipline-based courses. Neurologic disease and exam (n=201, 97.6%) were covered most, while lesion localization (n= 37, 18.0%) and neuroradiology (n=50, 24.3%) were taught least often. Of those that indicated neurologic exam is included, 175 respondents (87.1%) reported a hands-on approach. Preclinical neuroscience instructors were specialized in clinical neurology in 109 programs (52.9%). One hundred and sixty-nine programs (82.0%) offer a neurology clinical rotation, typically as an elective. Of 80 respondents who provided an estimate, most reported that 10% or fewer students complete a neurology clinical rotation per year (n=62, 77.5%). The most frequently reported barrier to offering clinical placement in neurology was lack of neurology preceptors (n= 85, 56.7%).
Conclusions:
These results offer important insights into opportunities for augmenting neurologic education during and after NP programs. Lesion localization and neuroradiology, for example, may be important targets for post-graduate education of NPs entering neurologic practice. Availability of clinical neurology rotations is not universal in NP programs, which may hinder interest in neurology as a career choice. Efforts to identify additional neurology preceptors could help increase access to clinical neurology rotations.