Analytical Approach to Changing EEG Education: Fabio Nascimento, MD

"The first point is that more than 80% of program directors that completed the survey reported and believe that their graduating residents do meet level 4 milestone by graduation.”

In efforts to better understand the degrees of electroencephalogram (EEG) education within neurology residency programs, Fabio Nascimento, MD, and Jay Gavvala, MD, MSCI, surveyed 47 program directors (PDs), and found a lack of consistency in teaching and evaluating residents on EEGs. They also observed a number of inconsistencies about requirements for successful completion of EEG rotation, which ranged from completion of rotation to oral examination and interpretation of 30 EEGs.

Nascimento, an EEG/epilepsy clinical fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, claims it is a widespread known fact among centers and residents that adult neurology residents do not receive optimal EEG education throughout their training. In their published research, Nascimento and Gavvala mention ways to combat these inconsistencies and optimize teaching and learning.

In this interview, Nascimento gives his reasoning for what brought about the study, and details some of the more puzzling results that were observed regarding the inconsistencies across residency programs.

REFERENCE

Nascimento FA, Gavvala JR. Education research: neurology resident EEG education: a survey of US neurology residency program directors. Neurology. Published online December 11, 2020. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000011354.