Using a Novel Educational Intervention to Improve Overall Knowledge of Headache: Sara Pavitt, MD

WATCH TIME: 3 minutes

"Headache is the most common neurologic symptom that presents in a physician’s office. Every type of physician, no matter if you’re in neurology or outside of neurology, is going to see these patients."

Headache is a common medical complaint in children and adolescents with the majority having experienced some type of headache by their teenage years. Pediatric headache presentations often differ compared with adults, and children may have difficulty describing their symptoms. Despite the high prevalence of pediatric headache, there are estimated to be fewer than 60 fellowship trained pediatric headache specialists with only 9 pediatric headache fellowships in the US.

To address the limitations in educational experiences for providers who care for pediatric patients with headache, Sara Pavitt, MD, and Irene Patniyot, MD, created the International Pediatric Headache Didactic Series, a novel educational intervention. Running from July 2022 to June 2023, the series included 23 bimonthly, 1-hour lectures, each containing 45 minutes of lecture and 15 minutes of discussion. The topics were based on the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties recommended subjects for headache fellows.

In total, 396 participants signed up for the lectures; however, only 56% of those felt competent or very competent in headache knowledge prior to starting the series. Pavitt, the chief of headache at UT Austin Dell Children’s Hospital, presented findings from the series at the 2023 American Headache Society (AHS) Annual Meeting, held June 15-18, in Austin, Texas. She sat down with NeurologyLive® at the meeting to discuss the reasons behind the program, and the need for increased teaching of pediatric headache. Additionally, she spoke about the basic training all medical professionals should have on headache, including the specific factors when diagnosing the condition.

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