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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2022; 80(01): 43-47
DOI: 10.1590/0004-282X-ANP-2021-0150
Articles

EEG education in Brazil: a national survey of adult neurology residents

Educação em EEG no Brasil: uma pesquisa nacional com residentes de neurologia de adultos
Elora Sampaio Lourenço 
1   Instituto de Neurologia de Curitiba, Department of Neurology , Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
,
Dora Pedroso Kowacs 
1   Instituto de Neurologia de Curitiba, Department of Neurology , Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
,
Jay Raman Gavvala 
2   Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Houston, TX, United States .
,
Pedro André Kowacs 
1   Instituto de Neurologia de Curitiba, Department of Neurology , Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
,
Fábio Augusto NASCIMENTO 
3   Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurology, Boston, MA, United States .
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ABSTRACT

Background: In light of the established challenges of resident EEG education worldwide, we sought to better understand the current state of neurology resident EEG education in Brazil. Objective: To define Brazilian EEG practices including in-residency requirements for EEG training and competency. Methods: We assessed the perspectives of adult residents (PGY1-3) on EEG education and their level of confidence interpreting EEG with a 24-question online survey. Results: We analyzed 102 responses from 52 Brazilian neurology residency programs distributed in 14 states. There were 18 PGY1s, 45 PGY2s, and 39 PGY3s. Ninety-six percent of participants reported that learning how to read EEG during residency was very or extremely important. The most commonly reported barriers to EEG education were insufficient EEG exposure (70%) and ineffective didactics (46%). Residents believed that standard EEG lectures were the most efficient EEG teaching method followed by interpreting EEG with attendings’ supervision. Roughly half of residents (45%) reported not being able to read EEG even with supervision, and approximately 70% of all participants did not feel confident writing an EEG report independently. Conclusion: Despite the well-established residency EEG education requirements recommended by the Brazilian Academy of Neurology (ABN), there seems to be a significant lack of comfort interpreting EEG among Brazilian adult neurology residents. We encourage Brazilian neurology residency leadership to re-evaluate the current EEG education system in order to ensure that residency programs are following EEG education requirements and to assess whether EEG benchmarks require modifications.

RESUMO

Antecedentes: Diante dos desafios da educação em EEG estabelecidos em todo o mundo, buscamos compreender melhor o estado atual da educação em EEG durante a residência de neurologia no Brasil. Objetivo: Investigar práticas de EEG no Brasil, incluindo requisitos para treinamento e competência durante a residência de neurologia. Métodos: Avaliamos as perspectivas dos residentes (R1-3) de neurologia (adulto) sobre educação em EEG e nível de confiança ao interpretá-lo através de questionário online de 24 perguntas. Resultados: Foram analisadas 102 respostas de 52 programas de residência distribuídos em 14 estados. Dezoito R1s, 45 R2s e 39 R3s responderam à pesquisa. Noventa e seis por cento dos participantes relataram que aprender a ler EEG durante a residência é muito ou extremamente importante. As barreiras mais relatadas para educação em EEG foram exposição insuficiente ao EEG (70%) e didática ineficaz (46%). Os participantes apontaram aulas como método de ensino mais eficaz, seguido pela interpretação do EEG supervisionada pelos chefes. Aproximadamente metade dos residentes (45%) relatou não ser capaz de ler EEG mesmo com supervisão e cerca de 70% não se sente confiante para escrever um laudo de EEG de forma independente. Conclusões: Apesar dos requisitos estabelecidos pela Academia Brasileira de Neurologia (ABN) sobre ensino de EEG durante a residência, há significativa falta de confiança na sua interpretação pelos residentes de neurologia (adulto). Incentivamos as lideranças a reavaliar o sistema de educação para garantir que os programas de residência sigam requisitos de educação em EEG e se os benchmarks de EEG requerem modificações.

Keywords:

Electroencephalography - Neurology - Epilepsy - Internship and Residency - Education

Palavras-chave:

Eletroencefalografia - Neurologia - Epilepsia - Internato e Residência - Educação

Authors’ contributions:

ESL, DPK: collected, interpreted, and analyzed data, and drafted the manuscript. Both authors contributed equally to this work; JRG: conceptualized and designed the study, interpreted and analyzed data, and reviewed the manuscript; PAK: interpreted and analyzed data and reviewed the manuscript; FAN: conceptualized and designed the study, analyzed and interpreted data, drafted and reviewed the manuscript, supervised the study. All authors accept responsibility for the research.


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Publication History

Received: 20 April 2021

Accepted: 21 June 2021

Article published online:
30 January 2023

© 2021. Academia Brasileira de Neurologia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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