Developing an outline for teleneurology curriculum

Abstract

The emerging field of teleneurology is delivering quality care to neurologic patients in increasingly numerous technologies and configurations. Teleneurology is well-positioned to address many of the logistical issues neurologists and their patients encounter today. However, formalized medical training has not caught up with this developing field, and there is a lack of formal education concentrating on the specific opportunities and challenges of teleneurology. Considering this, the American Academy of Neurology Telemedicine Work Group identified equivalencies with which any practitioner of teleneurology should be familiar. The purpose of this curriculum is not to define teleneurology or mandate where its use is appropriate, but rather to provide guidance on basic equivalencies that students, residents, and practitioners should know while practicing teleneurology. Comprehensive training in clinical bedside neurology is necessary to safely practice teleneurology and the components of this curriculum are an extension of that training. In this article, we offer a detailed discussion on the rationale for the contents of this curriculum and conclude by providing a model curriculum and an outline for evaluating residents in teleneurology.

COVID-19 and neuromuscular disorders

“…62 Neuromuscular clinics and information about incorporation of trainees are underrepresented in the limited data about outpatient telemedicine in neurology. 63,64 Resources and telemedicine references have been created by numerous professional societies including the American Academy of Neurology and the American Association for Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine.…”

Best Practices for Integrating Medical Students Into Telehealth Visits

“…The 2015-2016 Liaison Committee on Medical Education Annual Medical School Questionnaire reported that over a quarter of US medical schools have implemented telehealth training in their preclinical curriculum and nearly half have implemented it in their clinical curriculum [7]. However, much of the existing literature on telehealth for learners focuses on residents [3,8,9] or telehealth curricular descriptions for medical students [7,[10][11][12][13]. There is limited but growing literature on integrating medical students into telehealth visits [14][15][16][17].…”

Expanding Telehealth Competencies in Primary Care: A Longitudinal Interdisciplinary Simulation to Train Internal Medicine Residents in Complex Patient Care

“…In the literature on telehealth education, over a quarter of medical schools delivered preclinical telemedicine curricula, and almost half provided clinical exposure through routine practice or telehealth electives. 3 Other specialties, such as dermatology, 4,5 psychiatry, 6 and neurology, 7,8 have reported telemedicine training for residents and fellows. There are a few reports of primary care telehealth training, with limited uses of telehealth technologies.…”