2025 American Academy of Neurology Abstract Website

Objective:

1- To improve neurology resident comfort and knowledge in recognizing and treating neuromuscular disorders

2- To share with residents patients’ perspectives of living with such disorders

3- To compare the efficacy of delivering patient-centered educational content to traditional physician-led lectures

Background:

Outpatient neurologic disorders are less frequently encountered by adult neurology residents during training as their management is typically routed to subspecialty clinics while much of residents’ training is inpatient focused. To close this gap, we implemented an in-person patient-centered didactic series into neurology resident curriculum. The series was focused on less commonly encountered outpatient neuromuscular disorders.

Design/Methods:

Six patient-centered didactic sessions were held. Adult outpatients with less commonly encountered neuromuscular disorders of interest were identified from the outpatient NYU Neuromuscular clinic of the study moderator. Each patient participated in a feedback interview. Pre- and post-session questionnaires were administered to residents prior to the first session and following the last session, respectively. After completion of the Residency In-Training Examination, quantitative assessment of the curriculum was done by comparing the Neuromuscular subsection scores to scores from the previous year.

Results:

Clinical reasoning and satisfaction scores improved after the sessions were held.

After adjusting for the year of neurology residency training, the neuromuscular RITE percentile scores among the NYU residents were higher in 2024 as compared to 2023. The scores of NYU residents were also higher in 2024 when compared to aggregate scores of all RITE examinees, while they were similar in 2023.

Residents felt that the sessions raised their curiosity about neuromuscular pathology and presentation. Patients felt responsibility for spreading awareness and decreasing ambiguity about their disorders.

Conclusions:

A patient-centered educational approach is effective in teaching neurology residents about less commonly encountered outpatient neuromuscular disorders. Its implementation into other neurology resident curricular programs is needed for longitudinal collection of qualitative and quantitative data.