Launching an Interactive, Interdisciplinary, Hands-on Clinical Neurosciences Workshop During Preclinical Medical Education to Enhance Student Learning
Harli Weber1, Galina Gheihman2, Michelle You1, Sumita Strander3, Tamara Kaplan4, Haatem Reda5, Hina Dave6, Shivika Chandra6, Erin Furr-Stimming6, Tracey Milligan7
1New York Medical College, 2Harvard Medical School; Massachusetts General Hospital; Brigham & Women's Hospital, 3Harvard Medical School, 4Harvard Medical School; Brigham & Women's Hospital, 5Harvard Medical School; Massachusetts General Hospital, 6McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 7New York Medical College; Westchester Medical Center
Objective:
To provide preclinical medical students (MS) with early exposure to procedures in the clinical neurosciences.
Background:
To address neurophobia, educators at three institutions (1,2,3) transformed the lecture-based preclinical neurosciences course into an immersive experience, implementing an interactive, interdisciplinary workshop for MS1s.
Design/Methods:

Each workshop involved hands-on stations (e.g. lumbar puncture, thrombectomy, EMG, EEG, etc.) led by faculty and trainees in neurology, psychiatry, neurosurgery, and neurorehabilitation. Institution-specific adaptations were made given available resources. Students and faculty were surveyed post-workshop.

In the first iteration of the workshop, Institution 1 organized an optional, exploratory two-hour session including 8 stations (15 minutes per station). Learning from this experience, Institutions 2 and 3 designed a required workshop. At Institution 2, all 232 MS1s participated in the workshop with 13 stations. Students were divided into four 60-minute sessions and required to visit three or more stations (no time limit per station). At Institution 3, all 135 MS1s participated in the two-hour workshop with 10 stations (10-15 minutes per station).

Results:

At Institution 1 (optional workshop), 13 students completed the survey. 100% reported a better understanding of neurological procedures.

At Institutions 2 and 3 (required workshops) there was increased attendance and response rates. At Institution 2 (n=142), most students found the workshop beneficial for understanding preclinical material (81.4% Agree/Strongly Agree) and clinical neuroscience procedures (90.5% Agree/Strongly Agree).

At Institution 3 (n=48) most students reported improved understanding of preclinical content (72.9% Agree/Strongly Agree) and specialties and procedures (77.1% Agree/Strongly Agree).

Career interest in neurology increased at all three institutions after the workshop.

Conclusions:
A hands-on, interactive, interdisciplinary workshop was successfully implemented at three medical schools, demonstrating the feasibility of incorporating such sessions into preclinical neurosciences curricula. This presentation will review lessons learned, adaptations between institutions, and how other educators can use our innovation in the future. 
10.1212/WNL.0000000000206676