Abstract

The University of Bristol medicine course has one of the shortest neurology placements nationally, just one week. This is despite stroke being the 2nd most common cause of death and neurological illness accounting for 20% of acute medical admissions. Neurology training is set to be reduced even further by GMC regulations limiting clinical placements to the first four years with the final year as a “student assistantship”. In response to this we setup an independent, neurology teaching day held annually for 90 students. This is currently in its 2nd year, oversubscribed and free to attend. The overarching aim was to eradicate neurophobia and engender neurophilia.

From inception to execution in 7 steps:

1. Identify there is a problem i.e. inadequate neurology teaching

2. Gather evidence of “neurophobia” and negotiate improvement strategies with senior medical school educators, when this fails proceed to step 3

3. Identify a suitable venue and negotiate funding

4. Design a course that addresses the needs of the students, both in content and style – consider a carousel of workshops in preference to lectures

5. Choose a date when students are likely to attend

6. Recruit enthusiastic teachers

7. Run the course, gather feedback and make improvements