Objective:

Investigate the use of a standardized neurology curriculum for medical students and non-neurology residents rotating on the neurology service to improve confidence and clinical skills.

Background:

Neurology clinical education is a critical component of medical and graduate medical education and exposure can often be limited by time. Each learner often requires different exposures and training to satisfy their future clinical needs and such an approach can be limited by administrative support. This is a not a unique challenge, but one that is often overlooked in favor of dedicated education aimed at neurology residents.

Design/Methods:

The department of neurology hosts over 90 rotators per year and captured 63 data points due to timing of initiation of this project. Each stakeholder (i.e. department) was contacted and specific goals for their rotators obtained and a set of topics devised to address all rotators. From this, staff and residents crafted 20 “snippets”, 4 problem-based-learning activities (PBLs), and pre and post surveys. Each snippet was designed to be given by a neurology resident or staff and take between 5-10 minutes, covering the basics and highly testable topics. The PBLs were designed to be given weekly and take between 30-45 minutes. Surveys had multiple questions on a Likert Scale from 1-5 and given before and after the rotation.

Results:

There was statistically significant improvement in confidence from the pre and post survey across every field that was taught to include neurologic exam, building a differential, vascular neurology, multiple sclerosis, headaches, epilepsy, and neuroimaging. On top of this, on a 5-point Likert scale, the teaching and educational value of the rotation was rated at a 4.61. 

Conclusions:

While Neurology curriculum development is typically aimed at neurology residents, this quality improvement project suggests that building and instituting a formal curriculum can drastically improve confidence of neurologic topics of non-neurologists.