TY - JOUR
T1 - Interest in and exposure to headache disorders among neurology residents in Denmark
T2 - A nationwide cross-sectional survey
AU - Kristensen, Malene Glavind Holmsted
AU - Do, Thien Phu
AU - Pozo-Rosich, Patricia
AU - Amin, Faisal Mohammad
N1 - © 2022 The Authors. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - OBJECTIVE: Headache disorders constitute a leading cause of disability worldwide, but there is a consistent absence of awareness and educational activities for healthcare providers across regions. Thus, we found it timely to identify potential structural challenges and factors that may affect acquisition of knowledge of headache disorders and their management during their 4-year residency.MATERIALS & METHODS: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey of residents in neurology in Denmark including, but not limited to, questions on interest in neurological subspecialties and disorders, adequacy of training in headache disorders, exposure to headache disorders during training including time spent on headache disorders, exposure to specialist outpatient clinics, whether their hospital have a tertiary headache clinic, training in specific procedures (anesthetic blockade, e.g., greater occipital nerve blockade, and onabotulinumtoxinA for headache), and an estimate of proportion of cases with headache among patients managed in the last week.RESULTS: The survey was distributed to 127 residents in Denmark between March 2022 and April 2022. Of these, 59 (47%) completed all questions of the survey. Headache disorders were the fourth most popular subspecialties among respondents (n = 15 [25%]) following movement disorders (n = 27 [46%]), vascular neurology (n = 26 [44%]), and neuromuscular disorders (n = 25 [42%]). The mean number of hours spent in a course or a structured educational activity in headache disorders during residency was 12.1 h. Half of respondents (n = 27 [46%]) reported that they perceived their training in headache disorders to be inadequate.CONCLUSIONS: Even in Denmark, a country with excellent headache services, half of residents in neurology report an inadequate training despite a higher-than-average number of hours of structured educational activities. These findings should incentivize stakeholders to make structural changes to improve education in headache disorders during the most fundamental years of training.
AB - OBJECTIVE: Headache disorders constitute a leading cause of disability worldwide, but there is a consistent absence of awareness and educational activities for healthcare providers across regions. Thus, we found it timely to identify potential structural challenges and factors that may affect acquisition of knowledge of headache disorders and their management during their 4-year residency.MATERIALS & METHODS: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey of residents in neurology in Denmark including, but not limited to, questions on interest in neurological subspecialties and disorders, adequacy of training in headache disorders, exposure to headache disorders during training including time spent on headache disorders, exposure to specialist outpatient clinics, whether their hospital have a tertiary headache clinic, training in specific procedures (anesthetic blockade, e.g., greater occipital nerve blockade, and onabotulinumtoxinA for headache), and an estimate of proportion of cases with headache among patients managed in the last week.RESULTS: The survey was distributed to 127 residents in Denmark between March 2022 and April 2022. Of these, 59 (47%) completed all questions of the survey. Headache disorders were the fourth most popular subspecialties among respondents (n = 15 [25%]) following movement disorders (n = 27 [46%]), vascular neurology (n = 26 [44%]), and neuromuscular disorders (n = 25 [42%]). The mean number of hours spent in a course or a structured educational activity in headache disorders during residency was 12.1 h. Half of respondents (n = 27 [46%]) reported that they perceived their training in headache disorders to be inadequate.CONCLUSIONS: Even in Denmark, a country with excellent headache services, half of residents in neurology report an inadequate training despite a higher-than-average number of hours of structured educational activities. These findings should incentivize stakeholders to make structural changes to improve education in headache disorders during the most fundamental years of training.
KW - Botulinum Toxins, Type A
KW - Cross-Sectional Studies
KW - Denmark/epidemiology
KW - Headache Disorders/epidemiology
KW - Headache/epidemiology
KW - Humans
KW - Neurology/education
KW - Surveys and Questionnaires
KW - residency
KW - education
KW - migraine
KW - medication overuse
KW - training
KW - tension-type headache
KW - barrier
KW - headache
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135864481&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/ane.13681
DO - 10.1111/ane.13681
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36004408
SN - 0001-6314
VL - 146
SP - 568
EP - 572
JO - Acta Neurologica Scandinavica
JF - Acta Neurologica Scandinavica
IS - 5
ER -