Concussion education in Canadian medical schools: a 5\u2009year follow-up survey

François Mathieu,Charles H Tator,Michael J Ellis

doi:10.1186/s12909-018-1416-7

François Mathieu, Charles H Tator + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-018-1416-7

Copy DOI

Abstract

BackgroundDespite concussion now being recognized as a public health priority in Canada, recent studies—including our 2012 survey of Canadian medical schools—have revealed major gaps in concussion education at the undergraduate medical school level.MethodsWe re-surveyed all 17 Canadian medical schools using a questionnaire divided in two categories: (1) concussion-specific education (2) head injury education incorporating a concussion component to determine whether there have been any improvements in concussion education at the medical school level during the last five years. For each year of medical school, respondents were asked to provide the estimated number of hours and teaching format for each category.ResultsWe received replies from 13 of the 17 medical schools (76%). 11 of the 13 (85%) medical schools now reported providing concussion-specific education compared to 29% in our 2012 survey. The mean number of hours dedicated to category 1 learning in 2017 was 2.65 h compared to 0.57 in 2012, and the mean number of hours of category 2 increased to 7.5 from 1.54.ConclusionOur follow-up study reveals increased exposure to concussion-related teaching in Canadian medical schools during the last five years. Persistent deficiencies in a minority of schools are highlighted. These should be addressed by reiterating the importance of concussion education for undergraduate medical students and by developing clear concussion-specific objectives at the national licensure level.

Highlights

Despite concussion being recognized as a public health priority in Canada, recent studies—including our 2012 survey of Canadian medical schools—have revealed major gaps in concussion education at the undergraduate medical school level
13 of the 17 medical schools contacted replied (76%). 11 of the 13 (85%) medical schools reported providing concussion-specific education compared to 29% for our original survey (Table 1, p-value< 0.006)
Of the 11 schools that participated in both our 2012 and 2017 surveys, 7 (64%) reported an increase in teaching time dedicated to concussion-specific material and 9 (82%) reported an increase in general head-injury education (Table 2). 6 schools that previously did not provide any category 1 education had incorporated a concussion-specific teaching session to their curriculum

Summary

Introduction

Despite concussion being recognized as a public health priority in Canada, recent studies—including our 2012 survey of Canadian medical schools—have revealed major gaps in concussion education at the undergraduate medical school level. Concussion is recognized as an important public health priority in Canada. A recent national cross-sectional survey estimates its yearly population incidence at 0.29% [1]. Most concussed individuals recover promptly, up to 30 % experience persistent symptoms, leading to long-term adverse physical and mental health consequences and disability [2, 3]. Mathieu et al BMC Medical Education (2018) 18:316 increase awareness on concussion and growing media coverage of this issue have translated into enhanced concussion education at the undergraduate medical school level In order to diagnose a concussion, a clinician must rule out more severe forms of traumatic brain injury, cervical spine injury and other medical and neurological disorders that can present with concussion-like symp-

Methods

Results

Conclusion