Abstracts

Rationale: EEG learning requires a personal and long intensive training which is typically acquired through a one year ACGME fellowship training program. There are few studies suggesting that general neurologists tend to over read and misinterpret EEGs in clinical practice. Among graduating residents, only about 28% planned to do an EEG fellowship. Therefore there is a need for new training models to target this deficiency.Methods: Community neurologists are invited to participate in an online EEG training program. The program contains four units of EEG fundamental concepts and forty clinical EEGs. Each chapter is recorded using an interactive video format with specific learning objectives. The forty EEG cases are selected based on diagnosis and teaching value and comprise a variety of clinical EEG findings. Weekly live video teleconferences with the instructor are performed to discuss the EEG findings and to answer questions. The participants are voluntary subjects who have a formal training in neurology and paid a fee for participation in the virtual EEG program. After enrollment in the program, the participants are requested to perform a pre-test containing 40 questions. After a six months training period they are asked to take the same test again. The post-test scores are compared to the pre-test data for statistical analysis. Paired Two-tailed t-test is performed to determine if the scores improved at least 10% compared to their baseline. Results: Twenty community neurologists were enrolled in the virtual EEG program from July 2009 to July 2010. Of these, fifteen neurologists (8 males, 7 females) successfully completed the six month Online EEG program and completed both the pre test and the post test evaluation. Five participants failed to complete the post test evaluation. The average score in the pre test evaluation was 61.7% and the post test average was 87.8% (P two-tail 0.0002). Conclusions: Online training is a practical model for medical education and it has been shown to improve learning outcomes. Online learning is also convenient for the busy schedules of neurologists in practice. This program combines the basic concepts with the EEG clinical features, maintaining the personal contact with the instructor throughout web videoconference. Throughout the reports, the instructor can assess the reading skills of the students and provide feedback to them. This model resembles the real life EEG fellowship training model. The main pitfall of this study is that the test may assess for basic EEG knowledge but not necessarily correlates with ability to read EEGs. Neurology residency programs typically do not provide enough EEG training to neurology residents to become proficient in EEG reading. A virtual EEG program can improve EEG knowledge among community neurologists and it can become an alternative training model for those neurology residents who do not pursue fellowship training in EEG and reside in areas without subspecialized care nearby.