37^th European Neurology Congress

Biography

Biography: Elina Melikyan

Abstract

Statement of the problem: The implications of ‘neurophobia’ are still under recognized in medical education. At the same time, the magnitude of neurologic disorders, as the second leading cause of death after heart disease and the leading cause of disability, mandates a substantial need for trained health workforce to develop competence and confidence in the care of patients with neurologic disease. The global burden of neurologic disease is expected further to increase as a result of population growth and ageing.

Methodology & theoretical orientation: We performed a search for peer-reviewed articles published between January 1995 and February 2023 using PubMed, EMBASE, Medline, Google Scholar and Cochrane Library. ‘Neurophobia’ was described during postgraduate training and later in the professional career, causing avoidance of examination of the nervous system. Undergraduates ranked neurology to be more difficult than any other discipline to learn because of large number of complex and rare neurological diagnoses, limited exposure to neurological patients and opportunity to work with a neurologist, overreliance on passive lectures, instead of bedside teaching, lack of clinical reasoning exercises and innovative methods to bridge the educational gap. The trainees’ knowledge and confidence in the management of neurologic cases increased mostly during bedside tutorials, followed by textbooks, studying with a small group of classmates, case discussions, electronic resources. Numerous innovative approaches were implemented to improve education and increase learner confidence, including simulation, eLearning, 3D modeling/printing, virtual reality, podcasts/smartphone/social media.

Conclusion: Applications of basic neuroscience to clinical scenarios, frequent and effective exposure to neurology teaching are quintessential. This can reduce ‘neurophobia’, improve neurological knowledge and augment in medical profession comfort levels with neurological examination and clerkship. However, lack of time within the curriculum might be a barrier to implementation. More research is needed to apply interventions to develop a fascination with neurology.