Inspiring recruitment to paediatric neurology- an inspiring educational event

Abstract

Introduction Paediatric neurology is an important subspecialty, to which medical students have very limited exposure. Given ever-growing demand for paediatric neurologists, targeted interventions to improve awareness and recruitment into the specialty is necessary. We (The Neurology and Neurosurgery Interest Group (NANSIG)) organised a single-day high-yield webinar in collaboration with the British Paediatric Neurology Association.

Methods A 1-day webinar was organised with three keynote speakers from different stages of paediatric neurology training. Feedback was captured through a robust iteratively designed questionnaire, with data analysed descriptively. Our primary aim were to improve awareness of a career in paediatric neurology through this single-day intervention.

Results Survey response rate was 24/25 (96%), with 83.3% of respondents being medical students. We demonstrate significant improvement in awareness of the role of a paediatric neurologist (22/24 individuals were ‘not at all’/‘somewhat’ aware prior to the webinar, with 21/24 being ‘very aware’ or ‘extremely aware’ after the webinar). Interestingly, 9/24 individuals mentioned this event has likely could influence their future career as a paediatric neurologist.

Conclusion Our findings demonstrate the significant impact of single-day, high-yield, educational interventions in improving awareness of niche subspecialties. These findings are potentially transferable to improving awareness of other smaller subspecialties in neurology.